Flowers on the brain.

Blush Noisette

With just 7 days until we are married, I seem to have flowers on the brain. I have been spending more time than usual in the garden, tending to my roses. I keep thinking about the wedding flowers, which for our wedding means peonies. It's very unfortunate for me that peonies just cannot grow in hot, humid Florida, because when I lived in North Carolina, although I never actually grew any of my own, they grew happily there. Except people there pronounced it pee-YOH-knee (rhyming with baloney). Peonies, along with forsythias, were always a welcome sign of Spring. But, we can't grow them here, so I grow what does grow well here, instead. And remember that I never had tangerine blossoms outside my bedroom window when I lived in North Carolina, either.

No peonies, so old Southern roses it is. Just try to kill them, drought. You won't. Neither will black spot, or aphids, or lack of fertilizer. Old Southern roses are so effortless and content just to be, they almost make no peonies okay.

Natchitoches noisette, one of my pink Noisettes, photographed at dusk:


I like to look at my roses at different times of day. Early morning and close to dusk are best, when the foliage is not wilted, and everything looks fresh.

Madame Alfred Carriere a climbing Noisette, at dusk:


We have had so little rain lately that our rain barrels are now bone-dry. I have resorted to paying for City water to run the little portable sprinkler in order to soak their roots deeply. I do water them when it's really dry, because even tough, hardy plants suffer from extended drought. It was 94 degrees in the shade at the Cottage today.

Let's hope for a nice, Spring-like day next Saturday!

Yard sale

Today, we held a yard sale, and a pretty successful one at that. Our Cottage is located in the Stephen Foster Neighborhood of Gainesville (our little corner of the 'hood actually used to be known as Pine Haven way back when), and our local Neighborhood Association held a neighborhood-wide yard sale today. Nice of them to organize the whole thing, because that meant someone other than us had to take the time to place an ad on Craigslist and put up signage.


The neighborhood yard sale couldn't have been timed better, since Andrew and I are in the process of combining 2 households. We didn't have much trouble finding about half a roomful of fabulous finds. We spread the treasures out on the lawn and porch and sat back, waiting to see what kind of interest we'd get.


The antique oak fireplace mantle and 2 Depression-era kitchen cabinets sold quickly.



Andrew's Nana's old faux fireplace was a favorite among the looking-but-not-buying crowd. It gives off a soft orange glow and has realistic crackly fire sound effects!

Yeah, lady, sure you'll be back later for it. We may have to find it another home at the end of the day.

The Linen Department:

where one woman bought my nice crocheted tablecloth to use as a bed topper.

All in all, we made almost $300.


No one wanted the Chicken Head, though...

Wedding time!

It's been awhile since my last blog entry, but Andrew and I will be married in just a few weeks, on May 16th, and finding time to blog hasn't been easy. I now realize just how much is involved in planning even a relatively simple wedding.
Choosing the venue was easy, but the menu less so, even though I can't remember a single meal I have ever eaten at a wedding, and I never expected to spend so much effort contemplating wedding food. In the end, we picked 3 simple entree choices. I would rather spend time picking out the wine, anyway.

The invitations have been sent, and RSVPs are coming back daily. Most of the big decisions, like the venue, caterer, flowers, and cake were made months ago. In fact, since it's been 6 months, I'm not sure I remember exactly what we ordered, except I recall 3 tiers, buttercream, various flavors of mousse, lots of peonies and green hydrangeas.

My dress was, surprisingly, one of the easiest decisions of all. Not bad for someone who's not much of a girly-girl, and who laughed out loud while trying on and tripping over the merengue-y gowns at the bridal shop. Ladylike in a fancy dress, I'm not. But, once I found The Dress....ahh, the dress!

The dress alterations are almost done. I had no idea it would take at least 3 visits to the alterations shop to get it all right, since the seamstress honed right in on the 3 issues with the dress at visit #1.
First, as with with every wedding dress I tried on, the bust area needed to be taken in. At least with this particular dress, unlike some of the gowns I tried, it was not an insulting amount, just a bit. (A couple of dresses I tried at the bridal shop, I could have put 2 grapefruits down the front, easily, and still had room).
Then there was the issue regarding the sash ties, which were insanely long, something like 8 feet long. I don't even think an Amazon in 4-inch heels could have worn this dress as-is with the sash that long, even with it tied in a big flouncy bow in back. So, the sash was #1 item on my list of things needing tweaking, because I'm not a big-bow-over-my-butt girl, either. But now the long sash problem has been expertly taken care of, too. The sash ties are the perfect length, and now drape very gracefully and simply straight down, just brushing the floor, sans bow entirely. Perfect! I am a happy sashed and bowless girl!
Finally, the bustle. I'd heard of them, even seen them, and never thought I'd ever have one, or need one, but apparently I will, and I do. And, I'm actually excited! Needless to say, every time I have gone back to the seamstress to try the dress on- yet again -during its stepwise transformation, I have gotten all teary-eyed, it's so beautiful, and I hardly recognized the person wearing it. I guess this is what weddings are all about, and why brides go to all this trouble.

So...where things stand: we have our venue, our officiant, our vows (well, almost), our photographer, music for the ceremony, and music for the reception. We have food, cake, flowers, beer, wine, and champagne. We have table linens, favors, and decorations. We have (we think) a way of arriving and leaving in style. We have family, friends, and, hopefully, some surprises.
And, we definitely have our rings!


Meanwhile, outside of wedding planning, life goes on. Some photos from the garden:


Meyer lemon blossoms. Is there anything better than the scent of citrus trees in bloom? I didn't notice the ladybug until after I uploaded this photo.


Aloe vera plant in bloom. Talk about a hummingbird magnet!


Madame Alfred Carriere, our newest rose, which now has dozens of buds and blooms after a good pruning. The pale pink blush is very evident in this photo. The fragrance is wonderful, too.



The tried-and-true Blush Noisette, with lots of flowers and new buds.