Mary, one of the ladies in my walking group, took me to a flower arranging class last night. I’ve never tried flower arranging, but said yes when she asked (after all, what the heck else am I doing on a Thursday evening in February?). She told me to bring an oblong container and £3, so I dug out a plastic bento tray, and gave it no more thought. Until I saw her yesterday at lunch time, and she started checking with me: did I have oasis? No? She’d bring me some. Had I read the email she’d sent? Did I need any branches or stems? Had I gone and bought some flowers? Would I like to borrow her secateurs? Then she got home and started texting me: was the oasis she had enough for me? Did I know where to park? I should get there early to get a ‘good table’. Did I have a way to get my arrangement back to the car? Really, it was becoming most stressful, clearly this needed more prep than I had realised. So, I took some kitchen scissors and headed out into my rather barren garden and cut some stems from shrubs, and grabbed some tulips at the supermarket.
Well it turned out to be an excellent evening – over 30 women, all ages; there was a ‘meeting’ first, then a demo from a local expert, then off we went to make our arrangements. Then tea and goodies. I ran into a few people I already knew in town, met some new people, and I’ve been invited to a lecture series at the library later this month. I really wish I had gone the first evening that Mary invited me months ago, but I kept forgetting and she felt like if she kept asking me it was nagging. I am so looking forward to going again next month – this was exactly the sort of social event I’d been looking for.
Anyway, here’s the result of my work – it was meant to be an ‘L’ shaped theme.