Sanity space - Flower power R & R

This was written a few weeks back when we had some sunshine here in England! It's done nothing but rain for a while now... so I think a bit of flower cheer might be in order....

As I looked out of the kitchen window into the garden the other day I  noticed how long  the grass was and the weeds (that I had pulled only about a week previous) had regrown and were back in full force. It's amazing what a bit of rain and sunshine can do! Everywhere I looked had a label with "job" on it!

After my morning walk I decided to spend an hour outside and see if I could bend down and pull some of the weeds. However, with my amazingly sore muscles (after enrollment in to Regiment fitness just days previous),  I decided to leave the low weeding and concentrate on jobs waist high... one of which was pruning the rose arch as it had grown crazily wild too. 
As my mind still contemplated all the jobs that needed doing I somehow became side tracked by the roses. Instead of pruning (AKA...hacking everything to death)... as I normally do, I  found myself  carefully cutting some of the stems on the blooms that still looked good  to take indoors.....  and so a "sanity space" project began to emerge from nowhere. All of a sudden plain boring maintenance turned in to some sanity space fun. 

 After cutting some of the yellow roses from the arch and placing them in a glass of water I decided that I should move on to the stunning red rose bush at the bottom of the garden. This bush was bought for us by a friend for one of Heni's birthdays a number of years ago.....they have huge blooms in a beautiful  deep red.... such an eye catcher from my kitchen sink...a lovely sight to lift the spirits.

A large vase came out of the cupboard to accommodate them.

Next the orange Lilies caught my eye... but I had now used up my one and only flower receptacle and had nothing suitable to put them in.  After a quick rummage around in the fridge I found an almost empty sauerkraut jar that would make a good container..... 
(If you've read some of my previous posts you will know that I like up-cycling jars and finding good uses for them ... if not you can check out another Sanity Space post on jar transformations here )

....but the horrible label wouldn't budge! After a soak in some washing up liquid and  a scrape with a knife the label came off but the gooey glue was staying put.

 ... so out came the peanut butter (a magic trick I learned from  a book called.....Household hints and tips)

I've used this numerous times in the past and it works great.

 I wiped it over the glue and rubbed it in  and then rewashed in soapy water. After a once over with a dry cloth it was completely gone and ready for the lilies and ferns that I had already cut.

The garden table was starting to look colorful now .... but the old casserole dish that had previously  hosted my spring hyacinths  was looking rather sorry for itself amidst all the colour.

 I decided to empty the contents on to the compost heap and after a quick wash, filled the pot up with some gravel and embedded some tea lights in to it.

 ...I decided that it didn't look quite right and maybe some height was needed instead? I raided the previously lit candles from the living room and put them in the gravel in place of the Tea lights.

 I liked the Tea lights idea though and so went on another "jar scavenging hunt" so that I could do some floating candle jars. I used scented Tea lights so that the smell from the roses and the candles mixed together and wafted around in the breeze. My gardening session was quickly turning out to be an Aromatherapy session! I felt that the floating candles looked a little lonely in the water and so spotted some weeds growing in my veggie bed that had a pretty tiny orange flower. I picked the flowers (left the weeds in the bed) and sprinkled them in the water... much improved.

 The casserole dish is now sitting outside on my garden table ready for a balmy evening and the flowers got spread around the kitchen.  My kitchen table has looked magnificent with the vibrant red blooms sitting in the middle of it.

I had a fun time faffing and messing around cutting flowers, arranging, photographing etc and I can safely say that the little diversion from the everyday mundane was a good one. Not a lot of gardening got done that day.... the weeds are still growing and the beds are looking a sorry sight waiting for my muscles to recover but I'm glad I listened to my body to do something nurturing and rebuilding  and take the time to rest and recuperate. It's great to be focused and accomplish goals but it's also an equally good thing to be open to the opportunities that sometimes spontaneously emerge and present themselves to us... to be mindful of the moments that are right here, right now! By following the ideas with the flowers and candles that day it not only gave me some much needed R & R but allowed me to be a little creative AND spread a little cheer around our home : )

Jx

Listen to your body today for the signals it is giving you  and be prepared to drop the plan and go with the flow....
Oh and if you can.... why not go pick some flowers to cheer up your indoor space!