January 21, 2012 -- icy weather

The weather had been just a background for my day today, until...I went out at 5 p.m. and picked this cluster of green hellebore flowers. First, John had reported an ice storm at Flower Camp--trees coated with ice. Then, I'd had to clear some ice off my car windshield in Ashland before driving grandchildren home. But somehow, with grandkids around, the weather hadn't really registered until I went out to pick this hellebore after they'd left, and I found a chunk of ice nestled among the florets. It must have been really cold all day. Do tell.

The other interesting thing about this (to me) is the way it evolved. I'm tired, and whatever I created this afternoon had to be easy. Green hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) flowers are always easy (each cluster a bouquet in itself), but I'd resisted picking them until today. (They've actually been blooming for weeks.) I had planned to drop one into my new pale yellow pitcher, and did that, but it seemed to need something stronger underneath, so I went to get a decorative napkin. The napkin, however (which has some bright blue in it), reminded me I had this little blue pitcher, which was much more fun to drop the hellebore into. I fear all this wonderful color doesn't show up in photo, but, as I said, I'm tired, and it seems I'm unwilling to work harder to get the color right.