I have to go off subject a little bit to share something with you. Richard tends to be a creative speller (a source of some good belly laughs from time to time). He also leaves little notes. The day after the election, I found this one on the kitchen counter: “Keep clam and carry on.” It has become our anthem with every new preposterous event.
Now back to the business at hand. I shared this little cutie last month here, as part of Danger Garden’s last Friday of the month party. I bought it with the intention of using it as our Christmas tree and here it is, all dressed up to help us celebrate the season.
I didn’t want to overburden it with baubles so only the red ornaments (most of them tiny) and lightweight tin icicles made the cut, with the addition of a few clip-on red birds. It is planted in a favorite big red pot, where it shall remain for a couple of years, at least. It would have been moved back outside by now but I fear the shock of the coming cold snap might do it in. We keep our house pretty cool so I think it will be OK inside for another week. Anyhow…consider this our belated Merry Christmas to you.
Our house has a split personality at present. While the Christmas tree remains, over on the dining table Monday’s vase strikes an entirely different mood. Cathy, at Rambling in the Garden keeps us on our toes by inviting us to forage for something to put in a vase every Monday all year long. The idea, of course, is to find material in our own gardens but when a lunch guest showed up bearing these lovelies, I knew I had to share them with you. At first, I plonked them in a tall cylindrical vase. It didn’t come close to doing them justice but I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of lunchtime chatter.
Roses, Stargazer lilies and Eryngium are more like something we would put together from our gardens than coming from Safeway.
Richard came to the rescue, arranging them in this big glass bubble with room to breathe. Brook, I do hope you see this and know that your spectacular flowers finally got the treatment they deserve.
And with that, I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year and to remind you, when things get rough, to “Keep clam and carry on”.
Happy New Year , Ricki ! I have been trying very hard to “Keep clam and carry on “.
Thanks, Linda. Keeping clam takes some practice, so don’t give up.
The tree is cute and the arrangement is very pretty. Is the tree a Norfolk Island pine or something else?
BTW, I apologize if you get 2 copies of my comments. for some reason I’m unable to discern, I get a “fatal error” mission on my initial submission, followed by a “duplicate comment” notice when I back up and re-submit.
The tree is Picea o. ‘Barnes’. Sorry, I should have put that in a caption. Just one comment showing up here. I can’t seem to figure out how to make WP stop issuing that completely false message. I think you can ignore it and just keep clam and carry on but whatever you are doing seems to be working too. Sorry for any inconvenience and thanks for persisting. I always look forward to your comments.
Hope you won’t mind if we adopt your “keep clam and carry on” mantra. What a gorgeous bunch of flowers. Belated holiday greetings to you.
I’m honored to think a phrase coined here might catch on. Feel free to use at will.
Lilies smell so good and are just the ticket when garden flowers are so far off in the future. The Eryngiums add a really unique touch. I love your Christmas tree.
Keep clam and carry on into the happiest of new years.
I was impressed by the flower choices. The lilies continue to open so the fragrance goes on and on.
Love it. Clam it is!
Could this little saying replace “live long and prosper”? I always have a hard time with the four-fingered V that went along with that. A clam gesture would be much easier to master.
Love the tree, love the flowers, and love the clam message most of all…
That’s a lotta love. Thank you, I’ll take it.
What a sweet little tree, it’s lovely; do you have a proposed spot for it in the garden? Your flowers are lovely too, I especially like the fish-bowl vase. A very happy new year to you and your creative speller husband. I make take his phrase as mine for this year so thank you for that.
There’s quite a bit of room for roots in that pot, so I’m thinking of keeping it there, for a while at least. That way I can move it around to show off to best advantage close to the house where the deer won’t shred it (it’s the perfect size for their annual antler-defuzzing routine).
Love the tree. Wish I could have found one this size.
It’s the perfect size for moving in and out…hope you can find one next year.
I love the understatedness of your tree, and your gifted blooms certainly look ‘just right’ in the spherical vase – such a nice combination of blooms. I had to smile at your ‘keeping clam’ as I am cutrently doing a jigsaw I was given last Christmas which is called the Kitchen Cupboard and has all sorts of humourous subtleties in it, icluding a sign that says ‘Keep clam and curry on’… so you may even want to modify your saying for when things get especially rough!!
Oh my, and here I thought it was a completely original thought, resulting from never learning to spell.
Your tree is very sweet and your vase beautiful! Merry Christmas/Happy New Year! As I head back to school today, I’ll remember to keep clam!
Oh, man…a room full of students could easily disturb one’s clam…but I have no doubt you easily keep them amused and focused.
🙂 I love examples of spelling errors that turn out funny…. Hope you have a great new year Ricki!
It’s always easiest to be funny by accident.
I love your little tree – so sweet and decorated to perfection. And what a great gift of flowers – they are lovely and I bet the lilies smell wonderfully.
Thanks for the kind words, Eliza.
All the best to you, too, Alison.
It’s a phrase that might come in handy fairly often in this year of big changes.
That little tree with its family of red birds is delightful.
I must seek out some birds for our tree (to keep the cats company ;~))
It you can get cats and birds to get along, our polilican system feeds you.
I must seek out some birds to keep the cats on our tree company ;~)
Cats? Will you show us? Sounds delightful.