May 16, 2013 -- confession

I didn't take this photo today (May 16). I took it yesterday, which seems like a lifetime ago. That was the day I left Ashland for Hot Springs, Va. On May 16 I arranged, in this vinegar cruet, two white single peonies, some wild mustard seed pods, a sprig of  (? a Vietnamese herb that begins with H),  and a couple of deep purple heuchera leaves. The amazing thing about this arrangement (to me) is not what's in it but that I'm alive to post a photo of it today, because, this afternoon I traveled through two hail storms (one in Charlottesville, one in Shannon Hill) and what seemed like a tornado (near Rockville) to get back to Ashland. The confluence of events it takes to have the privilege of creating something as "optional" a flower arrangement never ceases to amaze me.