Floral adventures

Now that we’re settled in I’m ready to get back to normal. In floristry terms this has meant walking along the country roads, dodging speeding frenchies, pulling weeds and flowers from the side of the ditch, and wishing I had brought my clippers to ‘trim’ some of the lovely foliage and trees! And also wishing I wasn’t wearing so many clothes…. Autumn is so confusing!!

I went to one of the many markets in geneva this week, and was very pleased to find some great local flowers, like these dahlias from Taverny & fils horticulture. Google searches are getting some strange results now as it tries to decipher my weird translations for things. But it seems like there are plenty of local growers in the area!

It was a fun adventure into the city. We got the tram in and had a good explore. I know it’s sacrilege in the land of beautiful pastries, and great ‘cafe’, (and I could post a million photos of Instagram worthy macaroons, mille-feuille, or escargots de raisons), but I just could not resist a Starbucks when we went past. Sometimes you just need that American cinnamon fix!

Apples and pumpkins galore

We managed to go apple picking at last! I’ve wanted to go since we moved here, and never made it, so it was quite a momentous occasion! Yes we ate apple cider donuts. They were great! We picked loads of apples, way more than we’ll ever eat. But we’re trying hard! My culinary skills are pretty limited, but I did manage to stew some up yesterday which we ate last night with brown sugar and ice-cream in front of Downton abbey. Yum!

This is a floristry blog, so I will also include some flowers in this post! I love the tree pumpkins in this arrangement. I’d never seen these before, so couldn’t resist buying them and testing them out in a couple of arrangements (even though they were from Trader joes and I feel like a traitor to the owners of flower shops everywhere!) I’m hoping this fireplace might be home to a fire soon. Just got to persuade the landlord……

This is a delicate little wreath for the door, just some vibrant bittersweet and Japanese maple I brought home from a walk. I’m on the lookout for other bits to use for my next one. Watch out neighbors!!

Leaves leaves everywhere

Fall in New england is so gorgeous. Inspired by Maisie’s beautiful ‘artwork’ from nursery (3 leaves stuck on a page), we went on a leaf hunt yesterday just as the sun was going down. I’ve been spotting the best trees all around the neighbourhood hanging over onto the sidewalk, or even better, in the middle of road junctions and by parks, and maybe a graveyard too. So armed with my scissors we went walking.

I know they won’t last long, but they do really brighten up the house, and definitely make it feel very Autumnal. The photos below are pretty rubbish, but you get the idea! I think I like them up on the radiator cover the best, but that corner is pretty empty. Hm!

These are not flowers in the house, but I think leaves are close enough – so it’s that time again where we go to Jane’s to see what everyone else is up to at the moment!

They just keep coming.

We had a wonderful trip back home. The wedding was beautiful, and so much fun. The groom was Scottish, so all of his male family and friends were in kilts, which looked amazing, and Katie was a really stunning bride. There was champagne, guiness, Mauds ice-cream, a ceilidh and more dancing. We had so much fun seeing all of our friends who had gathered to celebrate, from all over the world. When we all manage to get together it’s like we are all 18 again! I was so happy and honoured to be one of Katie’s bridesmaids.

I was lucky enough to be able to help with the flowers for the chapel the day before the wedding. The highlight was a visit from a lovely old priest who suggested Katie’s sister might like to become a nun! Unfortunately in all the rush I didn’t take any photos of the chapel which weren’t slanty, or in the dark! The rest of our trip was great too. We saw lots of our family and really enjoyed having babysitters around. We managed a day ‘up the Port’ on the North coast in Porstewart, one of my favourite places in the world. It was cold, windy and beautiful.

Meanwhile back in Boston, normal life continues, and I came back to a blooming garden full of peppers! I can’t believe they did so well with no watering. More cosmos too of course!! I love them in this vase.

The garden is blooming!

Wow! The garden is growing like mad! Everything seems to grow inches between visits. I can see the start of nearly all the veg…. Tomatoes, peas, courgette (or zucchini depending on where you are)! I really don’t know what I’m doing, so I really appreciated it when another gardener came over and gave me some advice….. Cut off all the flowers on your lettuce! Thin the carrots! Eek, ok! I tried to save the lettuce flowers, but they died so quickly. But I enjoyed munching on the victim carrots a lot!

Today I cut some poppies from my garden, and used the walk home as a foraging mission, and managed to get a nice handful of stems, and some dried out seed heads ready to make a little jar arrangement for the house by the time I got back. It’s quite hard to know where the forage/steal line is…… I’m determining it from how quickly I am trying to get away from the scene of the crime! Anyway, today I'm going to link in for the very first time to Jane’s house party Pop over and have a look at what everyone is up to!

Here’s the results of the garden cuttings and walk home.

Here it is again with my favorite goat picture!