Flower Power!

Despite the fact that it's August but the weather thinks it's November, myself and a friend decided to take a trip to the annual flower/plant/shrub sale at Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park. 

After a wander round and a purchase or two (of course we bought something, it would have been rude not to!) Marian spotted a flower arranging demonstration.  A skill that's way out of my league and comfort zone.  Well at least that's what I thought...

We sat down and were treated to an hour of amusing tales of flower shows gone by, up coming flower shows and pieces to be created for exams while at the same time, the very clever gentleman was putting together amazing creations with flowers and foliage before our very 'dazzled with colour' eyes!

Of course I've forgotten all the names and species that he described as he was going along, with the exception of the carnations.  I knew those.  And I was surprised to see him using these humble ordinary run of the mill flowers in his remarkable creations.  But while I was surprised, Marian was outraged!!  Imagine!  Carnations??  Seriously!!

When he was finished his demonstration, he very kindly raffled all the arrangements he had made.  I, of course, won nothing.  Marian had better luck.  She won the one with the carnations!!

And here it is in all its glory:

OK, I know  there's no carnations in that arrangement.  That's because Marian came home promptly removed them and replaced them with those beautiful red Dahlias from an abundance of them she has growing in her garden.  I didn't really understand why she didn't like the carnations, until she replaced them.  Then I got it!  That's art for ya! 

And being the artist that she is, our lesson in flower arranging inspired her to make something of her own.  And here she is being creative, surrounded by clippings from her very well established garden and a few we brought home with us from the flower sellers.  

I thought I would be able to stand back and watch the artist at work.  But oh no, there was no way I was escaping.  Despite my cries of not being in any way artistic, not having any idea what to do or even a clue where to start, I was given all the tools, some basic instruction, (as in here's the clippers if you need it), and told to get on with it.

So, here's one I prepared earlier!!

Not bad for a first attempt.  I even managed to use my favourite colour flowers. Obviously a basic attempt compared to the expert's, and best of all, no carnations.  That's because there wasn't one to be found anywhere in Marian's garden!!

Here's her finished product.  A bit of a 'wow factor' going on there.

Imagine having all those different varieties of flowers and foliage in your garden.  Amazing.

Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go out now and dig up all the carnations that are growing in my garden...

Pretty in Purple?

We haven't been having a very good summer here in little ole Ireland, have we?  In fact, it was so cold during the week that one of my friends thought about putting up her Christmas Tree!

Anyway....

Even tho' I haven't been getting much use out of my garden furniture, and even tho' it's nearly the end of the summer, I though I should do something about the state that my poor table and chairs are in.

Despite the fact that I have oiled them regularly as described in the very detailed instructions that they came with, they really are looking a bit sorry and rather the 'worse for wear':

What to do with them is the question?  Throw them out and get new one's?  That seems like a waste, but I'm not going to try oiling them again, that too is just a waste, of my time.  So, the decision is made, it's going to be a paint job.

After endless hours in Woodies wandering round the paint section and mulling over what colour to use, I finally decided on Purple Berry, which won't blend in with anything in my garden, but that colour paint was on sale, and it really is quite a nice colour, I think...

To get the best finish possible, I thought I better sand the table and chairs before I did any painting. And of course, as I never have any proper tools to do any jobs around the house, I had to pay a visit to the man who has them all.  Dad!  I only went looking for a sheet of sand paper, but I came home armed with enough sand paper to make a beach, and this fantastic gadget which would save me endless hours of scrubbing and scraping, and best of all not leave me ending up with an aching elbow!  I do love a good gadget.

After brushing away the cobwebs and evicting all the spiders that were living underneath the table, I was dying to get going with my new toy.  But, not being happy just to do one job at a time, I decided, (having being sent a new recipe which included lentils) to cook the dinner at the same time.

So I put some lentils on to boil.  Then I went outside to sand the table.

Yes, you've guessed it, I got so carried away with the sander, which by the way did exactly as it says on the tin and left a lovely finish for me to paint, that I forgot all about the lentils.  So all the time and elbow grease I saved with the sander, was spent trying to clean the pot after the lentils boiled over.  I never learn, and ended up with the aching elbow that I was trying to avoid in the first place, from scrubbing the burnt pot.

And of course, the minute, no, the second I put the brush in the paint tin, it started to rain!!  Is nothing going to go right for me??

Luckily the rain didn't last long and I got to work and spent the next few hours painting and singing along to the radio.

I'm sure you're dying to see the finished result?  Well here it is, looking just like a photo I saw in the Woodies catalogue:

Good enough to eat your dinner off I'd say!  That's if you hadn't burnt the dinner earlier!

I am loving the finished result.  And even tho' I have, not literally but actually, painted over the cracks, I think it will do me now for another couple of years.  But I'm no so sure that Kevin likes it.  He came home from work, looked out the kitchen window and exclaimed in a highly indignant voice "For God's sake, why is the garden furniture purple!?"

I don't know where I went wrong...

PS.  Trisha, if you're reading this, it was Ronseal paint that I used! Ha!!