9/13/2008 - Welcome
Welcome to My Journal – I hope to share my creative days with you - Little snippets from my life at Camrose Hill. And I think all of the plants and flowers that I love have a story to tell too….here’s the first one!
My favorite hot spot in the summer is my own screened porch . This old house has 3 porches and the best of them is a screened porch off the east end of the house. All summer long I eat and sleep on it – I’ve created a sitting area and an eating area with the arrangement of the furniture. It’s cool in the evening and warm in the morning. I love sleeping on the daybed – listening to the night sounds and watching the fireflies.
All around the room I have draped wild grapevine – in a haphazard sort of a way. (Wild grapevine is fairly easy to find – it grows on the edges of the woods. The trees will love you for harvesting it – grapevine is tough on trees – overgrowing to the point of smothering. You can cut it any time of the year – but fall is best. Cut it once the leaves have fallen off and drape it around your windows, headboard, chandelier and of course, wind it into a wild wreath shape. We like to wind our own wreaths – that way they have a vitality to them that you just won’t find in the commercially available ones. )
Tomorrow I am having friends for dinner – and I’ll light all of the candle sconces around the room and have a loose arrangement of green hydrangeas, hops, and bittersweet “thrown” artfully down the middle of the table ( no vase). And in the grapevine I think I’ll wire some roses to create the illusion of a viney flowery bower over our heads. I have used the grapevine as a “trellis” for a passion vine that grows all summer on the porch – so the roses will look like they are growing among the vines. Stunning illusion (think wedding scene in Mama Mia)!!
Most of all I want my friends to have an easy, relaxed, beautiful and fun evening . I always say I am looking to create a life of laughter, love, generosity, and gratitude. I hope they find that here with me tomorrow!!