July 14, 2013 -- new mugs with marigolds, etc.

I bought four new mugs from a potter in Fredericksburg, and I like them so much I decided to use them as vases before drinking out of them. Thought it was going to be easy to just drop some giant yellow marigolds into them all, but I found I didn't want to do the same thing in every mug, so this got more complicated than expected. And I'd forgotten how many stems it takes to fill a vessel that doesn't have a narrow neck!

Included in the mugs are (from left to right): 1) sunflower, blackberry lily pods, marigolds, basil; 2) giant yellow marigold flowers; 3) orange butterfly weed and giant yellow marigolds; 4) ripening tomato--the same one I've been using on the windowsill since August 31!

My favorite mug is the one that has marigolds and butterfly weed in it, but the photo doesn't show the design on the mug very well. (It's a barking dog that looks like a hieroglyph.) The other thing that doesn't show in the photo is the fragrance of the marigolds, which lingers on your fingers long after you've stopped fiddling with them. Love it!