Tuesday at the Flower Shuttle

Flower Shuttle Tuesday

I loved the striations on this lavender chrysanthemum, and I don't ever remember seeing them before. They remind me a little of fritillaria, even though it isn't as pronounced in the mum petals.  Can you tell I love blue and lavender flowers together?  I have not been to the flower shuttle in about 8 weeks. Today I was welcomed so warmly by so many, that I feel I must try very hard to get back on track and go more often!!

Tuesday at the Flower Shuttle + Canada Geese

Peonies, roses and solidago

Iris, roses, bachelor buttons and solidago

Tulips, roses, hydrangea, wax flower and purple statice

There was a story in our newspaper recently about two Canada geese who have chosen an odd spot in which to roost. It is between a mall parking deck and the post office, across a busy street with lots of traffic. There is no lake or water nearby, which seems odd for them. I went to the PO after the Flower Shuttle today and parked right beside their spot. He is on the left, and she is on her nest near the rear wheel of the car.

When I first got there, he seemed calm, but as traffic increased, so did his angst - and he waddled to the edge of the plot to stand guard. It is amazing how alert he is; turning his head from left to right, surveying the possible dangers. I asked the clerk in the PO how they were doing. She said that sometimes he stands in the middle of the street and won't let cars pass at all. I was lucky he was not in that mood today! I told her that I appreciated the way Canada geese males take care of their mates, and she said "Wouldn't it be wonderful if all males were like that!" 

Tuesday at the Flower Shuttle

Tuesday at The Flower Shuttle

Royal purple!

Peach, coral, lavender blue and rosy pink.

Reds, corals and oranges.

Fiery reds and oranges. We had wonderful color choices at the Flower Shuttle this week

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Tuesday at the Flower Shuttle

I am such a fan of these lavender roses that when I saw the bunch, I grabbed all 12 of them! The blue flowers are agapanthus, or Nile Lily, and the green ones are chrysanthemums.

I couldn't resist a close-up!

The carnation at the top is my favorite variety of carnation, which I usually don't care for, except they smell delicious!

Can you tell I like the green mums too?  That color of green blends well with almost any color combination and makes the other colors 'pop' out.

The Flower Shuttle, in Raleigh, NC

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Eight of us in our neighborhood group went out for dinner tonight; hoping to give some of the women who work during the day the opportunity to join us. Only one did and we were happy to see her. I took a few photos, but most of them were blurry  - and no - I didn't drink any alcohol....lol.  The Nantucket Grill has a varied menu and offers half-portions, which is great for those of us who don't want to eat, in one sitting, enough to sink a battleship (although I nearly did.)

My meal was a small Caesar salad, New England style crab cakes with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. It was all very good. Tuesday nights mean free cake - and I had the mile-high chocolate fudge - which was really, really good!

Tuesday at the Flower Shuttle + Broken Glass

There were lots of pretty flowers on Tuesday; the remainders of many weddings and unsold bunches from groceries, etc. The arrangement above consists of roses, purple lisianthus and green/blue hydrangea.



This one has roses, carnations, pale yellow lisianthus and the name of the purple flower escapes me at the moment (just as many things do, nowadays!)



This one was really fun! A mug with polka-dot lavender hearts and circles; so I used red roses, pale lavender mums, myrtle and lily grass.

Life is very busy. Dentist's and doctor's appointments for both of us, physical therapy for mr. kenju, my birthday to celebrate, book club,  and many weddings in October (thank Heavens!) The weather has been quixotic; hot and sunny one day, cloudy and rainy the next and then a mixture of the two. I still have roses hanging on for dear life, petunias blooming and a geranium that thinks it is June instead of October and is ready to burst into bloom again. The lantana is still producing flowers as well. I suspect they will get a rude awakening someday soon, when it turns cold and the first frost appears. It can't be far away.

We got a rude awakening yesterday around 4pm, when it started raining buckets-ful and a freaky gust of wind turned over our deck umbrella, taking along with it the glass-topped table we've had for almost 30 years.  

The table has broken twice before, and since we had chairs and a chaise lounge to match, we had the glass replaced (at a heavy cost.) This time, I am putting the kibosh on that!!  I have vowed we will have a wooden top made and paint it to match the table - or I'll buy a new table and stay away from glass in any form!! It's always something, isn't it?   

Flower Shuttle on Tuesday



I went to the Flower Shuttle last week and here are some of my contributions.



Most of them are made in coffee cups, which make for small, compact arrangements that can travel easily and don't take up much space in hospital or rehab rooms.

This vase was purple, but it sure looks blue here. Oddly enough, the flower colors are all fairly true to life.

You may have noticed that I've been in a kind of blog slump. Working four days in a row was fun and I am grateful for the opportunity, but I must admit that the old body doesn't want to keep up like it used to. That meant that there were some things I didn't/couldn't do - and blogging was one of them.

Last Week at The Flower Shuttle

Our youngest designer, holding one of her very own creations!! Parker is six, and following in her grandmother's footsteps, which will be very hard to fill, but she has a good head start! Her grandmother was a favorite neighbor of mine, and I did the flowers for her wedding as well as for Parker's mother.

A commenter asked to see the whole set-up. Here is the room as they are just beginning to set up tables. We meet at Raleigh Moravian Church.

Here are some of the "raw materials" - donated flowers from groceries, florists, garden centers, weddings, etc.

Garden roses donated by Witherspoon Rose Culture.













My first design of the day.









Here are some of the arrangements being boxed up for delivery later that morning.

Good friendships are formed at the shuttle; many women come on a regular basis.

I have no idea how this post will look. I have tried to follow the "rules" for getting comments to post under the photo, but it doesn't always work. I hope it isn't too jumbled!