13TH MAY, 2024

 

Hello all,

I'm a little short on content this week because preparations for our exhibition and demonstration are taking up most of my time. So, I thought I'd share with you the photograph, above, of my granddaughters and me making jewellery.

This was little Aria's idea. She has recently become aware of the endangered status of the red panda and wants to help raise money to help. For her Christmas present she asked her parents to send a donation to  the Red Panda Network on her behalf. But that was not enough for Aria, who enlisted the help of her cousins and friends at school to make Taylor Swift type jewellery that could be sold to raise more money. She wrote to the school principal requesting permission to sell at school and she received it. So, during the school holidays we spent an entire day happily working together. The two little ones kept getting distracted but, still, we got a lot done.

Despite a shortage of time, I can't go past interesting material without wanting to arrange it. As I was raking leaves near the monstera deliciosa patch, I noticed the perfect, creamy flower, below. I cut it as well as two leaves, dropped the rake and went inside to arrange the material. 

Below is a photo of the monstera patch. It's about 3 metres X 6 metres. It's obviously an ideal spot for it because it's going gang busters.

Along with raking the leaves from the elm trees, I, also, collected a number of flowers from my kami-hon-ami camellia. It made me realise that unless I cut and use some of them, the rain will drop them to the ground. Hence the arrangement, below.

We visited some relatives on Saturday for the first time in their new home and saw this amazing perennial growing in a shady spot of their garden. It is called Liguluria reniformis or 'tractor seat'. It has very glossy green leaves and, apparently, flowers in spring. It  produces yellow, daisy like flowers. Naturally I had to cut some and, litterally, just stuck them in the vase. I couldn't bring myself to use a flower.

You may recall  some weeks ago the measures I employed to protect my persimmons from the various fauna of the area. Apart from the perspex collar I had placed around the trunk, I also invested in an electronic devise which is motion activated and emits a shrill sound and flashing lights, intended to frighten away various creatures. Both these measures worked very well in deterring the possums and rats. The birds, however, quickly became used to the noise and continued to eat the fruit, even whilst still green. I, then, proceeded to put plastic bags around clusters of fruit, which saved the rest of them.

And here is my final harvest. These were not all the fruit we got because we had collected some earlier and shared with family and neighbours.

Below is Mary's freestyle arrangement using two strelitzia reginae leaves and lisianthus flowers. The leaf to the left is being held up by a skewer that is wired to the back of the leaf and is placed on the kenzan.

Bye for now

Emily