I always love the messy in between doing bit more.

In the Garden Cottage Studio yesterday afternoon. Flowers from our bee friendly garden.

I’m not a florist, and am under no grand allusions that I think I am at the standard of a florist or ever will be.

 

This doing and creating with flowers is a creative outlet for me, something I dreamed of doing but wasn’t sure I’d be able to. After the accident with my hand I had to learn to write again and use my hand in different ways, often it is very limiting. But together with my little family we have worked out systems so I can spend more time with the flowers. Michael and our daughter Liliana help me pick the flowers and fill the large vessels with water. Together we care for and tend the garden.

Before the accident I used to do a lot of handcraft and could finish a crochet blanket in a week. I miss looking down at my hands and watching the softness of the yarn passing through them, slowly, methodically, the rhythm and movement. The sense of moving forward as a project grew, even when other things in the world didn’t make much sense.

 

And so now I look to the garden instead of my yarn stash and sewing kit. The gentleness of the petals as my hands touch them, thinking about colour combinations, the light changing as the seasons unfold. Taking the ladybugs and bees and beneficial insects back outside when the odd one shows up in the vase.

Yes, it is all about the doing bit for me, being a part of something wonderful, transformative, that passes through me, it is not permanent or perfect. But it is freeing.

Sending much love and light out into the world,

Jude x