Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Imbolc: ask for inspiration.

I can't believe that the last 'celebration' was autumn... and now we're nearly through winter ! Today in Melbourne, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is high summer . It's 22 deg. celsius outside !

This conveniently brings me to my thoughts of the week....

On August 1, here in the southern hemisphere, the celebration of Imbolc took place...Imbolc, the festival of early spring, when the earth begins to stir... when signs of life are apparent to those who care to take notice... when the goddess returns. (Note: when I first planned my flower shop, I wanted to call it 'Persephone', but I thought it would be too hard having to spell it all the time ! I must say 'Calypso' isn't that much easier. See website www.calypsoflowers.com.au for origin).

This is a time to choose what you really want to do this year, to think about this, and to make preparations whilst the pace of life is still winter-slow and you don't have to rush into things.

In the northern hemisphere, where the festival takes place on February 1, the special flower which symbolises the new almost-beginning is the snowdrop. I remember the joy of finding them as a child in England. I'm not sure what the Australian equivalent would be ?

In my garden, with the last few days which have been so mild, my sweet pea seedlings (grown from seed) have shot up 2 inches, my lettuce seedlings are almost ready to nibble, and the mint is re-establishing its dominance in the mint corner. The oranges are still growing - we try one every week to see if they are sweet enough to eat. (This week, they are sweeter than lemons, but still not yet ready).


At work, I am starting to talk to brides about their spring weddings, and I have started to collate ideas for table centres and bouquets, everything from peonies to forest glades !

This was an experiment for a table centre combining a silver birch log with a bowl of flowers. I just used the flowers that I had available, but it would be beautiful with ....well, with just about anything , really!

Back to my spring planning...