On Tuesdays, Two Writing Teachers hosts the Slice of Life. Everyone is welcome to share writing and comment on others in this special community.
Last week, winter planters sparked my curiosity, and I spent time looking at different combinations of greens that could color up the grayness of my outdoor spaces. Lo and behold, facebook offered video after video of creative approaches for arranging white pine, cedar, and holly. Those digital algorithms were working in my favor.
My mom loves flower-arranging, so on Sunday morning, I brought over an arts and crafts project that included several planters, vases, floral foam, dried hydrangea blooms, and six yards of mixed green roping. With clippers in hand, we pilfered her backyard evergreens for additional offerings. Her gardens are spectacular, even in late November on cold gray mornings, so it didn't take long to have a pile of rhododendron branches, leucothe stalks, andromeda sprigs, weeping hemlocks sprays, red twig dogwood branches, and holly swatches.
"Think about heights and textures," she said as we clipped. I've grown up as a gardener thinking about heights and textures because she always thinks about that in her gardens. "But don't take any of the branches with berries on them. Those are for the birds." I've also started to plan my gardens around birds and butterflies, inspired by her commitment to nurture the backyard wildlife.
Back in the kitchen, we went to work.
"How about a border of the hydrangeas?" she suggested.
I sat on the floor, clipping and snipping, aware of the mess I was creating, but also with a vision of planters and vases.
By the end of our arts and crafts session, I had planters, vases, and pots that were rivaling some of the facebook videos.
I used to love being on the lookout for the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon has to do with the concept that once you learn about something, you keep seeing that something or something to do with it all over the place. Social media has messed that up. Now, once I see something that's new to me or curiosity-sparking, I'm apt to google it. And then, that something shows up all over the place. I've learned the importance of selective googling.
Turns out that googling holiday planters produced some inspiration for a memorable November morning and some beauty for the gray spaces of home.
I love your choice of hydrangeas! I was a December bride and had them in my wedding bouquet. They definitely work in a winter arrangement.
ReplyDeleteYes, social media messes with that phenomenon, but I know you live a wide-awake life!
Melanie, I also love flower-arranging. Each month, we create little boxes of seasonal florals to decorated 15 hospice rooms to brighten lives. Little did I know for the 4 years I lived here that the hospice was the one that my husband was destined to go to. Continue your talent for arranging flowers. I am glad that your mother and you decorate the outside of your house. I never thought of winter flowers in pots during the winter. The inside of my house is always decorated with artificial flowers throughout each season. Happy Hoidays to you. Congratulations on your new book aso.
ReplyDeleteMelanie,
ReplyDeleteLove that you and your Mom had such a sweet day together of making and teaching and learning. As a birder, I also love that you are designing for the birds.
I agree that the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon was a lot cooler before the algorithms narrowed. Hope you find some random synchronicity in nature.
Ah, a kindred spirit- I also wrote about how to fight the blues of decreasing sunlight. Your post inspires me- I can do this! (As soon as the icy rain stops.) and thank you for teaching me about the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. Of course I have experienced it but never knew a name for it. My most recent example is sketching small plants and finding so many interesting twigs, seed pods, and stems all around me, worthy of a drawing.
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