When someone you know well has an exceptional talent for doing something, does it make you feel less confident about trying it yourself? That's how it is in our family when I, and three of my four sisters, think about creating a centerpiece or floral arrangement for a special occasion. We always defer to our youngest sister Jody, a very talented floral designer (now retired) whose creativity is second to none. The situation is so bad that we even considered asking her to make the centerpiece for her own birthday party recently, but then thought maybe that was taking it a bit too far. I might be venturing out on a thin limb when I suggest that she was one of the first in the area to feature natural elements, such as birds' nests, in her arrangements, but I'm willing to take that leap. This Easter morning, her charming and understated birds' nest and turtle shell display greeted us on the front porch of her house, above.
The garage door of my sister and brother-in-law's house is draped with a twenty-year-old wisteria, just weeping with blossoms.
Back home in the CWE an "Amethyst Falls" wisteria is also bursting out all over in our backyard, above and below. As with many creatures of beauty, wisteria has a definite mind of its own. It demands constant attention lest it take over the territory. We are constantly cutting ours back. As my late father used to say, a wisteria's roots must reach all the way to China.
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