Flower tricks continue...

We're upstate working today. Auction resulted in many fun things which I will share here when I get my SD card reader back tomorrow. The one disapointment was an old fencing set that was bid up much higher than we were prepared to go. The man who won it is selling it on Ebay. I said to him "Do you think your sword style can defeat me?? On Gaurd!"

He was not amused.

Anyway, I am taking a break from the hideous task of weeding thistle in Susan's garden to bring you this, the latest in a series (maybe) of flower tricks.

ENTER: the art of dried flowers. In general, something I avoid. They collect dust, leave droppings all over and can be relegated to the 80's along with the piles of self-help books that still reside on...nevermind.

Needless to say Susan put me to the test with a little basket which until recently was filled with 20 year old flowers from some New England tourist trap town.


It's been sitting in the shop reminding me of the dreaded task. Until this weekend when I threw together some dried lepto, seeded eucalyptus and rice flower to make this pink thing, perfect for mother - Tada! Since I discovered Floral Foam, there is nothing I cannot do!!


Then I thought back to a mention in MSL on Baby's breath (gypsophilia). It's pretty cheap and easy to find. I stuffed this little Finnish sauna bucket with it (using a half-sphere piece of floral foam).

In other news, we're pretty excited to have a little feature on Design Sponge today. Thanks Grace for stopping by last week, it was fun!

The sun is coming out again, so I'm heading back out to finish mud-slinging. Eric and I have put a moratorium on business talk until cocktail hour, so theres a lot of silence around here. In fact he's sitting behind me right now reading a book on how to make your business a "Category of One." He says he just got to the part about the importance of napping.

SR

One Armed Swordsmand and other Floral Tricks.

[Eric as the One-Armed swordsman.]

Alarmingly, Eric's penchant for all things kung-fu has worn off on me. We watched (or I half watched, half slept through) The One Armed Swordsman last week and was compelled by how artificially stylized and overly dramatic it was...and so now on any given morning I can be found scoping out vintage Kung-Fu trailers on YouTube instead of rewatching the same Stevie Nicks interviews over and over again. Thats progress friends.

In other dealings, we've entered head-first into wedding season - its nice to be really busy with flowers because that means more material passes through my hands. More material, more pictures for you.

Now we are off to an auction to hopefully score some ball jars and other loot for the shop. I promised Eric we'd eat ice cream for dinner at Friendly's beforehand.

I'll report again tomorrow from upstate, SR

Carnations and Red Tip in some white glass things. And a pizza from Grimaldis. You live in Brooklyn or Manhattan you know about it, and the lines that form outside. Eric and I drive by and shout out the window "It's not that good!" to discourage people who have been waiting for 1+ hours. Not nice, are we? Well, my foot is in my mouth - it is that good - when someone else goes to get it instead of you...

This little ditty is my favorite thing ever. i love you.
<---- I'm so cranky this morning, even after a second pot of coffee and a coffee cake muffin. Was out at gallery openings last night in Chelsea. Sort of a bust, besides the lovely company. There is just a lot of shitty art right now... I'm not in the business of mud slinging but there were some paintings we saw that combined imagery of breasts, scrotum, orchids, carnivorous plants, and oil slicks. Come on!

But how perfect and cosmic are these graphite drawings by Will Duty...

I'm better at knowing what I like than I used to be... but worse at making decisions. Stood in the vegetable isle for 15 min. today deciding what would be the perfect fruit for today, Friday, April 25th. What time would I eat the fruit? What would I be wearing? What did I want the fruit to say about me?

Grapes. And an avocado, which technically is a fruit. Two very different things which together might say...well what would they say?

Some old flowers from last week mixed in with some snipping from my clover plant.

Unfortunately I had to take three separate trips into Manhattan yesterday.
The first resulted in the following flowers:

Montreaux tulips. After a 8 hour flight from Holland and braving JFK customs, theses little puppies are a bit flacid. Instead of leaving them in their cuff to drink (resulting in a straight stem) I let them absorb water hanging over, which results in a stiff stem in a weeping arc.

Chamomille and a Holk flower.

Golf Ball Peony.

After the flower market I had the pleaseure of working with Virginia, a jewelry maker who is interested in flowers and wanted to try her hand at arranging -- she made this beautiful arrangement of scented geranium, tulips, frittalaria and red tip above.

The second trip was a visit to Soho House (neither a house, nor in Soho)to scope out the site of one of our June weddings. Celebrity sitings included Minnie Driver and David Schwimmer (but does he really count these days?). Approximately three elevator rides later (has anyone else had a fear of elevators since the New Yorker article?) I arrived at The Library a large room with rad bookshelf-wallpaper and some impressive leather furniture.


Third trip was a last min. delivery to Columbia Prespiterian for a friend. Every time I deliver flowers to a hospital I say never again and this time I mean it. Imagine being trapped inside a bad episode of ER (post George Clooney); people are being rushed by on stretchers DYING, you take the wrong elevator and end up in the basement. So basically you're standing in the middle of the MORGUE holding a f*%$ing ball jar of Chamomile asking where the South 17th Bay of the Kaiser Wing is.

From Maryanne's pizza [12/29/07] to today. now I am hungry.

It being earth day and all I thought I'd share some green business with you. Remember my tomato seeds from Tomato Bob? TaDA!!


...There is more to this post but blogger is being a little bitch, so it will have to wait till tomorrow.

SR

LOVE

Took a little excursion to Grand Prospect Hall today - we're working on a wedding that will take place there this spring. Built in the 1890's, it was the first establishment in Brooklyn with electricity. Since then it has served as an opera house, the home to a Masonic club, a speakeasy during prohibition, and the site of Rudy Guliani's wedding. Today its over the top with embelishment - palms, candy colored paint and murals of no-name royalty. I love it.

The flower you asked about Carlie are in the Rice flower family...at least I think so because I dries very quickly and smells like marijuana. The process of buying at the flower market is hectic and often a race against the clock (with eric avoiding the parking meter maids) so I sometimes grab and go. The writing on the receipts I come home with are remarkably similar to eygptian hieroglyphics. Today I looked back at them to try and decipher this rice flower thing and found a listing for what looked like tulips and poppies, neither of which I bought.

*Aside; finding this chart just now I come to the sad realization that the tattoo I got when I was 16 and obsessed with ancient Egypt actually means something along the lines of "Pool-eagle-mouth-eagle-flax" rather than my name. Most unfortunate.

I'm coming around again later this evening with some garden updates and such.
sr

playing today with peonies, ranunculus and almonds on the branch. Also in there is langanoza, eucalyptus and dogwood.

last of the ranunculas

It has been a whirlwind being back in the saddle at saipua the past few days. I'm looking at a slur of paper work and photos and junk all around. There are so many small details that are worth sharing about our stay-cation. Well actually nothing that interesting unless you count photographing my cats with vegetable yamaka's. You can hit up some new pics at my flickr.

Strange buzzing around the flower market this week as peonies start to look decent (and affordable). [Speaking of peony - I happened upon Nicolette Camille's stunning flowers via design sponge today. Here peony arrangements are incredible - a real inspiration!]

I'm happy to have my hands dirty again. See you tomorrow or soon...
Sarah

Dear Mom,

Windham Fabrics, Dorothy, Black Birds 27189-1 (At Purl Fabrics)

Welcome back from your vacation to the American South West. I hope you visited lots of pueblos, Kivas, and Area's 51. I hope you drank tequila (i know you) ate tacitos and had your shakras read with ancient crystals. More importantly, did you bring me back anything??

Things here were fine while you were away. I enjoyed a few days lounging around at your house (lounging in this instance includes turning over your vegetable garden). Actually, Mom, they are not so fine; we really need to talk about your kitchen curtains. I was recently reminded of this pertinent issue when I came across a set of unfortunate fabric swatches, which I assume were garnered from the local 'designer' at Wallhauer. Let it be said here I understand there are limited options for fabric in the Hudson Valley. However, before making a rash decision I think we should plan a visit to Purl fabrics together. And then eat at Blue Hill. On the business.

Alexander Henry, Sweetheart Bandana, Pink 6822AR

Lecien, My Folklore, Orange Wildflower 3656OR

Kokka Fabrics, Ouka, Red Flower Circles JA30060-62a

Lecien, My Folklore, Green Birds 3617G

resurfacing.

The fog of vacation is starting to lift.

On a walk this morning I was enjoying that rare and fleeting sense of euphoria that only coffee brings. I had thirty clever things to write here. Now I have none...

Except that Eric really wants me to follow up on the Canada post to include Tim Hortons on the list of all good things Canadian. Tim Hortons... because you always want a donut, and because when you decided to drive across New Foundland in the middle of the night there was a shining brand-new Tim Hortons on the horizon; a mirage amidst utter desolation and moose in the middle of the road.

See you tomorrow.

Last but not least...

Delivered to Smith St. on my bicycle tonight because it was too nice to take the truck out again...a crazy day but we're almost done...I'll return here on Thursday of next week.
All best till then;
Sarah

Oh Canada!

My pop's family settled in Canada from Finland in the fifties and as kids we'd boogie up there to visit my Aunt in Toronto and Momou up in Northern Ontario. My folks would always tell us to keep quiet when we went through border inspections. One of the few times we obliged...it felt like espionage.

Mummo's cottage is on a lake near Parry Sound. When they bought the property they built the Sauna first and lived in it until the cabin was done - this is Finnish tradition.

Sometime later in the 70's my father and his father built a second larger log cabin. My dad says they didn't know what they were doing. I looks ok though. Eric and I briefly lived there in 2003 while we were looking for work to support our Visas. There were bats and mouse shit in all the cabinets. We watched a lot of satellite television as we communed with nature. Remember the show The Restaurant with Rocco DeSpirito? Yes you do.

Here is a photo of my grandfather and a picture of the Sauna.


At the end of that summer we packed all our possessions back into our truck and headed back to the USA to set up camp in New York City. On the way across the border the inspector flagged our vehicle for detailed inspection. This would have been incredibly exciting as a kid, but as an adult, the idea of a canine tearing through all your stuff as officers look on with raised eyebrows is more infuriating than it is amusing.

We checked out and the officer said to us, "Whats all that junk in your truck?" [Note, I said truck, not trunk"]

We explained that we were trying to move to Canada.

"You can't just move to Canada!" she said.

After harrowing weeks of trying to extend our visas and find work as American citizens, this statement from the US security guard was entirely appropriate. But why hadn't they told us that on the way over?

Some other things Canadian to love:

Boards of Canada [music]

[Boards of Canada; Music is Math]

CANADA [art]

The Souvenir Shop [amazing Canadian design objects]

Canada Is by Roger Whittaker

Butter Tarts [Canadian national treats]

Eh?

[The 'keep it clean' soap from the Brooklyn Flea. The presence of wrestlers always indicate a bar that is special, and thus only $7.]





I have so much jazz to pin up here kids, so I'm just gonna spill it all, sans editing.....

1.I have been listening to Talk Talk's Laughing Stock from 1991 for the past few days. It is so perfect. LISTEN TO IT (especially if you like Genesis, the Phil Collins years).





2. Brooklyn Flea. Sure it was cold and windy but me an my mooks sold a bunch of soap and meant it! I also met a slew of great folks and found some treasures:


A.) In a world of boring tote bags - this from The Fair School is a beacon...


B.) These earrings made by Erica Weiner ... who has a blog which is really great ... which is where I found this amazing new perfumer out of brooklyn called D.S. & Durga...


C.) This 19th Century photo album....


D.) Reincarnated furniture by Nightwood. Their objects and furniture are all made from scavanged wood. Each unique piece has a raw and eerie quality about it. This is a flag-like wall hanging held by artist/partner Myriah Scruggs. Their website nightwoodny.com is coming soon....


E.) A pack of strawberry pincushions by the truly gifted Sian Keegan...


F.) Milton Carter, whose King Tut t-shirt has made me a better person, was also there. I told him how his "sphinx shirt" has changed my life. He told me it was King Tut, not a sphinx. (I just want to say here that I know the difference between King Tut and a sphinx, but that in that particular moment I was confused.)

Signing off to take a walk and practice some magic,

SR

Aaron successfully shoots, develops and screens 8mm films. Abstract films. I love them....he's a genius, but when I came home to this instead it was a little pleasure amidst a weekend of madness.

Today's working weekend antidote: falafel, a trip to Other Music, coffee in the park and some new magazines including Bon Appetite (they had me at Steak Frites) and Colors.

Thanks for your comments gang -- I love seeing them - and it was pretty neat to meet some of you yesterday at the flea market -- I have some fun things to post here tomorrow from there.

xx
sarah

scenes from saturday's wedding