Making a funeral wreath.

Last week was Supergranddad's funeral.

Mum put in the announcement 'family flowers only'.

Lots of people do this now, suggesting that donations be made to a charity.

It's a good idea, especially when you see just how much flowers cost.

When I looked up the cost of flowers to send, I was shocked but I wanted to send some so I decided to make my own wreath. After looking at some images for funeral wreaths, I came up with this one, inspired by a rosemary wreath I saw being advertised at $150!

First I bought an oasis wreath costing £3, and using greenery from the garden, pushed in the first layer working in an anticlockwise direction.
Then I made some fatsia japonica (also from garden) details at the top and bottom of the wreath followed by some lillies bought at the local supermarket - costing £5.
I filled in the rest with rosemary - also from the garden.

Total cost: £8.
I've no flower arranging training so I may not have done things as a professional would...

but, I thought it looked lovely and when I returned to the grave at the end of the week, the very expensive funeral spray (which did look fabulous on the day) had not lasted as well as my wreath which was as fresh as new.

Jam and Jerusalem

A Women's Institute group has just started in the village so last night I went along. I must admit I did struggle through the song 'Jerusalem' mainly because it was hard not to giggle. But I did enjoy the evening. We were treated to a flower arranging demonstration by a very popular man called Robin White. I remember the first time, a few years ago, that I went to see one of his demonstrations. Although I like seeing flower arrangements, I did wonder how watching someone prod flowers and bits of foliage into some oasis was going to be entertaining. However it is his banter that makes it such fun. He has plenty of funny stories to tell and the arrangements that he does are really, really fabulous! He has won medals at Chelsea.

Yum!

I'm just cooking some steak and chips for tea. Yummy, but not as yummy as the fabulous Indian meal Jancy cooked for us last night. We went to Glenn and Jancy's house for dinner last night. It was a lovely evening, catching up with my old teaching friends. I like to dabble in a bit of flower arranging now and then so this was an excuse for me to make a little something for the table. I got the gold and black mosaic vase from TK MAX and used that as inspiration. The kids went for sleepovers with Grandparents except for Hope. We picked her up on the way home. Although we left the in-laws with her moses basket and sleeping bag, she didn't sleep and kept them pretty busy that evening. She was desperate for a feed too. Actually, earlier that day, we had a bit of a scare. We went to the school xmas fair and while there I had a burger. She kept trying to grab it so I thought she'd be ok to eat a piece of bread. Unfortunately, she choked on it and Hubby had to give her a bit of a whack on the back to bring it up. Very scary. No-one else batted an eyelid, though!

And one of our chickens died. Hubby found her huddled up by the pond yesterday.