My spirit soared all week

It has been a wonderful week on many levels, allowing my spirits to soar as in years before, shedding winters bleakness to embrace the light of spring, I began to be creative once more. Capturing many floral images, including a number of tabletop product photographs for today’s post. For a time being, the weeks of distraction seemed to disappear even though my visit to the cardiologist resolved little, if anything, while things that needed to get done, including this post were set aside to be addressed many days later.

The previous Saturday a package arrived from England, it was my winnings from Jeanne’s give-away at Collage of Life. The package, to no fault of Jeanne’s husband who mailed all five for her, appears to have taken the long way via the Panama Canal, whereas Donna’s traveled over the North Pole, for hers arrived one week before mine and we are practically neighbors. Later I learned from Jeanne that one of the remaining three packages arrived in Australia while the other two to Germany and France were also delayed, making it seem they were being hand delivered by row boat over the English Channel. So trying to figure out the postal delivery system is best left to the bureaucracy who really never know what is going on anyway. All in all, you see the package arrived safely and with no damage.

It would take several more days before I finally managed to get around and start setting up a display with the canvas book bag that Jeanne had sent and one that I would share with my wife, who in the last year and a half has become an avid reader. We both thank you for your kindness and generosity.

A few days later our mail delivery person came to the door with a package from Elizabeth (her new blog is knittnkitten’s blog) with whom I was partnered in a tea swap held by Patty over at Artfully Ooglebloops. This was my first swap or Internet participation of any kind and I had been looking forward to it. So when I was handed an overly large package with some considerable weight to it, I was very curious and headed for the kitchen, grabbed a knife and started opening it without thinking that I would want to take a picture of the package first.

Apart from several tea samples, Elizabeth also included a jar of homemade lime marmalade, which at first I thought was lemon, hence the lemon in the picture. She had taken a former pastilles tin and added plenty of loose leaf Earl Grey tea with lavender from a Berkeley teashop. The other three packages are all from Primula teas are of a green tea infused with the scent of jasmine, then rolled up into a flower that will unfurl as hot water is added. Each package contains a different kind of a flower and I will look forward to seeing them open up in my glass teapot. She also included a container of an Alpine berry herbal tea from Two Leaves and a Bud tea company that I will try this Sunday afternoon with a couple of slices of toast and your lime marmalade.

An hour after receiving Elizabeth’s package, the UPS driver came by to hand over a square package, one from my friend Anna in Houston. She recently had posted at one of her blogs, My Ephemera, drawings she had made of a cluster of red Japanese maple seeds. Her seed samples were considerable larger than those from my red Japanese maple tree, so I asked if she would be so kind as to send me a cluster since I raise trees from seeds. Having had success with seeds from my green Japanese maple but not the red, I am hoping that Anna’s seeds will make a difference and germinate.

Though I only requested the seeds from her maple tree, Anna decided to add a little something extra to surprise me. The package rested on a black and with bandana and was beautifully wrapped in a sheet of handmade paper and tied with raffia to which she added a card of one of her images and attached a heart. Upon opening the package, I discovered a set of oversized cards with envelopes printed on watercolour stock; the image Anna used was of one of my irises. Here thoughtfulness and loving care for our friendship was evident in each element of the package and the gifts treasured there within.

When I looked at the remaining seed clusters still in the box, the light from the kitchen widow moved over them in such a way, I could not resist the urge to take several close ups studies, especially since the once deep burgundy colour has shifted towards a purplish tone.

It certainly was a little more than a week of excitement, most of which was euphoric there was one other surprise that came via an email. Jeanne had bestowed an award to my blog, a Happy 101 award to say thank you. In many respects this award I cannot claim just by myself, as I feel it needs to be shared with my readership, who are responsible, visit regularly and support me through their comments.

I bring to a close this post the same way as it was started, with a photograph of a blooming tree. May it delight you as it has brought me pleasure in capturing its fleeting beauty.

Thank you for your visit

Egmont