I was given the most beautiful, vibrant, sweet smelling lilies for my birthday this year.
Completely out of season they arrived fairly tightly closed & pretty green looking with somewhat limp leaves.
They revived with a bit of water & I popped them in a vase on the table & waited . . .

My god they were so worth the wait !
I've also learnt a few things about lilies - as one does lol !

I grow lilies outside in a container garden & usually it's around December - January that they flower.
They are beautiful & their sweet scent in the warm air is divine.
Usually I leave them out there.
I have (or rather, had) this notion that flowers grown outside should stay outside, live their best lives out there, enjoy their full life cycle, benefiting the insects blah blah blah.

Well, these out of season birthday blooms have changed my mind.

Outside sometimes they last only a couple of days ! Especially if it rains &/or is windy - which, of course, it often is.
Inside, my birthday flowers lasted 2 weeks. Absolutely beautiful until the petals dropped on to the table & even then they smelt amazing.

Well, if you've had lilies you know that the pollen stains like a bastard so I decided it would be fun to see how the pollen would be if i deliberately used it as a pigment.

I had an insane amount of fun. 
I used the stamen as a little brush & applied the pollen to water, acrylic media & 'natural acrylic media'.
Sadly I can't imbed videos in my blog posts, which is a shame as it's a bit hilarious to watch how i made the 'pictures' - maybe I'll post to IG later . . 
First I played on paper . . .

& then on a piece of old sheet & a small strip of plain undyed cotton fabric

Writing this today I realised I didn't remember where I'd put them (haha) thankfully, they are all together in the same journal (phew)

They look amazing.
​The colours in the media have remained vibrant & I'm happy to report that so have the watercolour ones which is wonderful. 
It's only been 3 weeks since I did these samples & only time will tell if they are fugitive.
If that's the case, that's ok too.
What has been super duper interesting is the difference in colour with (presumably) different pH of the different media. Unexpected things are often the most interesting aren't they ?

All this to say, I'll be bringing my lilies inside this year & I'm really looking forward to that. 

xxx Sal

i enjoyed the brevity of writing just 3 lines *
i enjoyed the staccato rhythm
like the sound of hail wind driven on to the windows 

watercolours are amazing
a few leaves picked up on a few walks
the process is alluring & there's a certain amount of serendipity in the outcome

i wonder will i ever be able to pull 'this' off
will i ever be able to bring 'this' together 
to be honest, i don't even know what 'this' is

'the ideas, the visions, the dreams of what's possible would not be in you if they were not for you. they are in you for a reason & they are yours to shape & mould & build & play with & tweak & adapt & iterate on' Tiffany Han**

in the end does it really matter
i'm gonna say no, not to the outside world
but to the voice inside
​it's vital

​xx Sal

Alert level 4, aka Lockdown, started August 18th
At 1159pm tonight, the part of New Zealand that is south of the Auckland region will shift to Alert Level 3
Level 3 is still lockdown
but with takeaways & online shopping

when i asked my friend what alert level 3 meant
he said 'you & your Bubble can go to the beach & go surfing'

my Bubble & i are planning a picnic tomorrow
we're going to the beach
the ocean temperature is currently 13.9°C
we won't be going surfing

So how was alert level 4 this time round ?
it was different
in a good way
it was calmer, less fearful 
more people moving around but still quiet enough to be pleasant

people seem ok about wearing masks in the supermarket

our oldies went in to lockdown mode
grocery shopping online for those with a computer 
grocery deliveries by whanau for those without 
i only realised last night that dad wasn't wearing his glasses yesterday
must remember to ask him about that . . .

Hugh had his birthday 
we made a lemon cake 
he got presents in the post
i made him a paper tiger &
we had our 1st covid 19 vaccination

tomorrow will officially be the 1st day of Spring