SAIPUA

I was going to work on centerpieces this weekend for the thanksgiving roundup but ended up wasting a lot of time researching PM Dawn lyrics. (You have to watch this NOW, its completely amazing.) Regardless, I bought flowers in a very light color palette this week - one far to delicate to stand up to most thanksgiving tables. Which reminds me that once my mother said she would never serve a meal that was too pallid (i.e. halibut with cauliflower)...that the appetite desired an array of color on the plate. Now there seems to be a trend towards monochrome plates. A meal devoid of color: nutritionally vapid but elegant! (and the perfect opportunity to break out the best linens.)

Still hanging onto these sweet green juice glasses - paired them today with a depression green glass vase. Those are garden roses from (gulp) California. I've been trying to buy flowers locally, but its really tough as most growers are in California, Ecuador or Holland. Also Australia - which completely baffles me - we ship flowers all the way around the world. Next post: How to calculate the carbon footprint of a December peony...

These roses are the wildest things ever - the petals spiral neatly inside a perfect circle. Plus the smell is truly genuine, unlike many of the over hybridized roses available today.


Tantalus was the son of Zeus who stole ambrosia from the gods and brought it down to share with mortals. Not the best idea (stealing the sacred nectar of deities). Also not a good idea to sacrifice your son and slip him in the stew at a feast on Mount Olympus in order to prove the stupidity of the Gods by tricking them into cannibalism. It didn't work - Gods being all-knowing and whatever called him on it and placed him forever in a shallow pool of water surrounded by fruit trees. Any time he tried to pick a piece of fruit the branches would be swept up and out of reach by a breeze. When he knelt to take a sip of water from the pool the water would drain. Tantalus ... tantalize. And ambrosia is actually the name of common ragweed, one of the most allergenic plants.