quel dommage!

what you don't want to hear, when you're standing in your packed mud room, being stabbed by an agave as you reach for a platter, is the sound of an almost fully decorated tree starting to fall over. no, you don't. especially when there are 9 people and a dog between you and tinkling tree, and the tree, remember, is in a large vase filled with water and stones. are these run on sentences? tree was caught and saved, vase thrown out, stones collected, floor mopped up and up and up. Tini raced across street and returned with a ginormous tree stand, i hate tree stands but had to be grateful for this one. otherwise tannenbaum was going in an old dirty plaster bucket. decorating continued with more than a touch of hysterical gaiety. ornaments continued to be broken, beers knocked over, and our same 10 really bad christmas songs continued to play in the back ground.
now i must go sweep and hoover, again.

rainy days and sundays

sunday morning, seriously raining. today we put up the tree, which mean we spend an hour deconstructing said tree. we cut off about 4 feet of branches then take off about 3 feet of height. this gives us a tree both tall and small enough to sit in a very large vase, then fill the vase with rocks for balance. the extra branches fill up pots and window boxes outside. nothing is simple at smallbutcharming. after making extra work for ourselves, we prepare a delicious meal for friends who do the actual decorating. Anne, also a floral designer, has been lighting my trees for decades. another longtime friend, Blaise, hangs ornament upon ornament. long after i would have lost interest, he's still hanging 'em. other friends, and the dog, mill about, laughing, talking and generally getting in the way. before i gear up for a rainy mess outside, here are a few arrangements from yesterday at the shop. despite a day that seemed scripted by Ken Keesey, my co workers managed to pull off some christmas magic.

from nothing to something

i've got nothing. well, i 've got glitter on my shoes and face and clothes and my hands are covered in the little cuts you can only get from handling an assortment of fresh greens quickly. i've been decorating client's houses for the past couple of days and i just knew they wouldn't want me taking photos in their house for the blog. smallbutfired would be the new title. luckily, today i received some beautiful shots taken this past weekend by The Hai, father to the german girls. i hope he won't mind if i post a few. he is my idol: never without his camera, doesn't let a little thing like driving a car or a "no pictures" sign stop him. he's relentless in his pursuit of a good shot, we never take a bite until the camera does. what did i learn this weekend? eat less and get a better camera!

a few of my favourite things

the weather outside IS frightful. i hear sleet. but inside i smell roast chicken soon to be accompanied by sauteed broccoli rabe in olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper and a squeeze of lemon. also attending will be orzo tossed with juices from the chicken, salt , pepper and a knob of butter. this deliciousness will be served whenever german girl gets off the malfunctioning metro and sister of brings back our dog! i'm admiring a vase of roses brought to us on saturday from pinchbecks rose farm in guilford, conecticut. they opened perfectly, the lavender roses smell like summer, and as i turned the vase around for another shot, they shattered over the table. summer is indeed over.

the groaning board

i'm feeling very full after this weekend. the hai, german girls father was in town for the weekend. this means much food. sushi, sushi, sushi on saturday night. sunday morning brunch compliments of The German Store and Alexandria Pastry Shop, the first provided sausages, cold cuts, smoked liverwurst,and a coarse ground teawurst, whole grain breads, one traditionally baked in a wood oven. the second store gave us, croissiants, currant scones , and cranberry muffins. i believe there were cheeses, condiments, pots of coffee and tea, but no identifiable fruits or vegetables. before we all succumbed to heart attacks, we drove into d.c. for a car tour of the hill and them a walk through two of my favourite museums: National Museum Of African Art and The Sackler Gallery. these filled me up on another level. the work of Yinka Shonibare filled my eyes and my heart. pictured here is The Swing. the entire museum is so worth a trip and not full of children, just incredible art and wonderful music. i dragged everyone up and down stairs to The Freer Gallery to have a sit in The Peacock Room. the picture says it all. ok, so there was more food to come, oyster stews and shepherd pies, black and tans for the drinkers, and maybe a bread pudding or two at Martin's in georgetown. we were very tired, we were very full. there was only time for tea and an impromptu tango lesson before bed.

crown and glory!

our shop, company flowers, is all custom design. you want the topiaries outside your door to resemble faberge eggs? call us. ( but only once please) . you're a major museum and exhibiting a photographer who shoots flowers in various stages of dying? call us. we'll ravage our gardens and bring in black/blue baptisia pods and browning hydrangea blossoms, crispy purple sage leaves and whatever else we can scavenge to make beautiful dead arrangements. today is your wife's 40 th birthday and you want to crown the nature loving gardener that she is ? call us. we'll create a crown of grapevine and flax leaves, pepperberry and hydrangea, gyp and lemon leaves , a tiny bird and a mariposa. happy birthday louise.

a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll

i want to go to the netherlands for christmas. they love the glitter, and the dyeing and the flocking and the crystals. they take nature and make it so wonderfully unnatural. my house is full of feathers and rocks and leaves picked up on walks. i have bowls of sea glass from fire island beaches, jars filled with shells from florida to connecticut. but come christmas, i'm drawn to dutch drama. behold the lotus pod, dried and somber adorning a blue juniper wreath wrapped with a grapevine bow, then behold the dutch lotus ,dressed up like the dog's dinner, shining up a ball of carmel "combo" roses and boxwood, perched atop a black urn. on my dining table, a tall clear vase holds a single branch of pine. at work, i 'm sparkle plenty.