8th May, 2023

 

Hello all,

So I had a milestone birthday last week and, no, I'm not going to tell you which one. 

My family pulled out all the stops to give me a fabulous celebration. A High Tea was held at my daughter's and son-in-law's place with the assistance of the rest of the family. Vicky made the most delicious cake, Madeline and Jeannine made a whole lot of restaurant quality cakes, finger food and sandwiches, with Parthena as sous-chef to Madeline. Lucy created the gold crown and officiated over the coronation, with the appropriate pomp and circumstance and Dennis provided old, family videos which he had digitised. The grandchildren greeted the guests and took their bags and coats, took them upstairs and labelled them with the owner's name.

The queen and her consort

Just us girls!
From left - Queen Emily (it has a nice ring to it), princess Madeline, mum, sister Vicky, sister Lucy,
Hermione and Aria

After having overindulged on bubbly and irresistible food, I cut the cake together with cousin, Steve, who was also celebrating a birthday.

We, then, sat around, with belts discreetly loosened, around the large screen TV and enjoyed old family videos. We laughed, we cried and generally had a wonderful time looking back. The most poignant part was seeing loved ones that we have lost. None of us wanted to leave but children needed to get to bed so, reluctantly, we left. I could not have hoped for a happier celebration.

And now to ikebana. Most of the advanced students were absent from the previous class and missed out on workshopping the large yucca leaves. So, I set them the same task with the exception of Vicky, who had done it previously.

My arrangement was still looking fresh, in fact, it improved with the passage of time because the agapanthus started turning yellow as did the tips of the yucca leaves, which now pick up the colour of the lip of the container.

Original

Two weeks later

Lucy challenged herself to make the yucca leaves stand on their own without any support. She balanced them on a tin lid, which she used as a container. She added nandina domestica nana to complete her arrangement.

Jenny used an unusual, ceramic, two coloured container. She created drama with the yucca leaves jutting outwards, but softened the arrangement with the hydrangeas which have changed colour into warm reds and oranges. This is a good example of 'Colour of the Container', where the colour of the materials relate to the colour of the container.

Nicole bent the leaves creating a dramatic arrangement in a ceramic tsubo vase. She, too, added nandina domestica nana to complete her arrangement. 

Lei's curriculum lesson was 'Colour of the Container'. she used a bright yellow, glass vase, which she contrasted with purple lisianthus and pink chrysanthemums, allowing the yellow berries to make a subtle connection to the container

Wendy's lesson was 'Using one Kind of Material'. She chose taro, which she used most effectively, including a flower and a spent flower together with the leaves.

Dianne's lesson was 'Colours in Contrast'.She used red dogwood stems (cornus siberica alba) and pink roses which she contrasted with the young green, echinops in a ceramic suiban.

I set Vicky the task of making a nageire arrangement using the technique 'Tate-no-Soegi-dome' - vertical fixture. She used apple branches and yellow chrysanthemums from her garden.

Mary's lesson was 'A Table Arrangement'. She used hydrangea stems just starting to turn colour and deep purple lisianthus in an oval shaped suiban. It's an arrangement that must be kept low so as not to obstruct guests at the table. Also, it will be viewed from all sides and this must be taken into consideration. Mary based her arrangement loosely on Variation No 6 horizontal.

This has been an extra long post and I thank you for making it to the end.

Bye for now,

Emily