For Day 6 of the Everyday Elegance Experiment, I noticed some things in my own backyard. My mother had a camellia bush growing outside the kitchen window and when I noticed that this house had a beautiful, well-established camellia in the backyard, I took it as a positive sign that this would be a Very Happy House. While it’s not in full bloom yet, it’s soclose! And judging from the number of heavy buds, it’s going to be magnificent in just a little while. It’s a gorgeous flower that blooms at the end of winter, so it’s associated with resilience and also with enduring love and refinement. A flower that is ideal for a Diva, don’t you think?
I’m also beginning to see jonquils, daffodils and all forms of narcissus, which are favorites of mine and a sure sign that spring is on its way. While my backyard has a long ways to go to be the garden I want it to be, I’m working with a talented garden designer to help me coax it into existence over the long term. (She came and brought my overgrown hollies to heel and the front of the house looks downright dashing. The back yard is going to be for whimsy – lots of native plants, flowering shrubs, and maybe even a sunflower room this summer. It’s a years-long project.)
Today is also Valentine’s Day, which can be a pressure-filled day for many people. Like many people, I enjoy a holiday set aside to celebrate love, but really – this can be a stressful, even melancholy, day for plenty of people. Long ago, my Beloved and I made a conscious decision to not put much emphasis on V-Day. We usually celebrate in very small ways. But this year, we were made aware of this:
And it was fantastic! Led by the same folks who taught me my beginner’s course in Italian swordfighting last fall, we learned some stage combat moves, threw in some extra creativity to make it work with me being left-handed, and lo and behold, we learned a super-short fight-turned-dancing that ended in a passionate kiss – followed by punch and chocolate!
It may not be for everyone, but I found it elegant.
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