Blossom Blessings

Friday 'Picture & Prose'

"Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive."

~ Khalil Gibran

 

The Precious-ness of Peony

Oh how I love these flowers!  Just to write this post I put on my only cashmere sweater that is a soft peony pink.....something so princess, pretty and petal-ful about these beauties!

Last Saturday when I walked into Trader Joe's for some provisions I saw that the peonies had arrived.  I always buy myself a bunch each year as a celebration of beauty.  On this day however, with a yard full of roses and many other lovely options, I wondered if I needed them.  I put them back and gazed at them from the "provision" aisles.  I surveyed who was purchasing them and mused about why ( a party, lover of beauty, gift...) I was clearly too interested.


So, as a woman obsessed with flowers, I caved and bought a bunch in this lovely coral color that is just 'sending' me these days.  I have to confess, it may be the best $6.99 I have ever spent.  I would estimate the amount of pleasure I have received from them thus far (and their most dramatic, glorious and grandiose unfurling) would be somewhere in the thousands of dollars-priceless range.

So, if ever faced with a similar decision, I say - buy the peonies - you'll be glad you did.

Friday 'Picture & Prose'

Wherever you are is called Here

~ Lost ~

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
 
~ David Wagoner ~

 

Summer Salutation

Tonight I am putting the finishing touches on my Seasonal Celebration Packages for the Summer Solstice. It may seem early, but I like to get it out by the beginning of the month that the solstice or equinox falls in so if one chooses they can start gently welcoming the next season through using the goodies within. It is the first package of the second year of this project, and I like it.  In some ways I feel like a fahion designer working on behalf of Mom Nature.  Planning weeks before the actual occurence and inviting summer (this time of year) into my mind and heart when some haven't even had the time to think about it yet.  I know, because before sometimes, equinoxes and solstices would slip past me, not anymore......

I love it when we can take something we want to realize in our own life, acheive it through our work, and help others to do the same. 

I haven't wanted to be too specific about these packages as I really want to have creative freedom to let spirit move me on what to create.  However, I have had more than a few requests to have a picture of the contents so I wanted to share 'the goods' this time around.

 

This season's package contains.....

Summer Solstice Anointing Oil

Summer Solstice Salve

Summer Sostice Body Oil

Summer Solstice Soak

And tomorrow morning I am meeting my good friend and intuitive storyteller, Katy Mangan, to see what she has cooked up for summer (on a story cd that is also in the contents of the package).  We will also be enjoying a lavender latte that my friend Pam (who knows all the best treats) turned me on to at Sonoma WF Market.  I think it will be the perfect way to exchange summer creations and invite in this most active season that is at hand.  I just love the full-bloom, ripeness, bounty and beauty that summer brings..... Enjoy!

Friday 'Picture & Prose'

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains
found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day,
she met another traveler who was hungry,
and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.
... The hungry traveler saw the precious stone,
and asked the woman to give it to him.
She did so, without hesitation.

The traveler left rejoicing in his good fortune.
He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security
for a lifetime.

But, a few days later,
he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said.
" I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back
in the hope that you can give me
something even more precious.
Give me what you have within you,
that enabled you to give me this stone."

Author Unknown

 

It's Fun Being Part of the Flock!

Recently I had a "makeover" done by the charming chickadees at Canary Public Relations  and you can find the "fruit" here www.annawingfield.com.  It was a joint effort of my longtime friend Michaela Eikenbary and and my newfound friend Jayme Catalano ~ who together compose ~ Canary Public Relations. 

Back in 2000, when I delivered my first ever aromatherapy product order to The Silverado Country Club here in Napa, I remember the spa director saying - you should meet our floral designer, you'd really like her.  The floral designer she was speaking of was Michaela.  I don't believe we ever met there (however my memory isn't what it used to be...) but our sons ended up attending the same elementary school (and were in the same grade) so we saw one another often there and even took walks out in the beautiful Napa countryside together some mornings.

So, when I recently saw on Facebook that Michaela had started a new business, I wanted to hear all about it.  We met for coffee and for her to fill me in.  Her enthusiasm was palpable and I already knew how talented and creative she was.  I couldn't help but wonder what she might be able to do for my business (albeit a very petite one), so I shyly inquired.  I met with her and Jayme and got so excited I could hardly sit still.  They are full of ideas for marketing, branding, presentaition etc. and have the skills to make them come to fruition.  We met a few more times to discuss the website composition and each time I was totally fired up during and after our meeting.  The kind of feeling that has YES written all over it.

Now with my own official website and gorgeous business cards I find I can't wait to share with existing and prospective customers.  The only problem is they made me cards with 6 beautiful images so I have to lay them all out so people can pick their favorite.  I used to shy away from the question - do you have a website?  Now I feel I can say - do I ever!

I am so grateful to these fantastic women for helping me clarify my vision and make it visible for others as well.  Currently they are conducting "jam sessions" for those who are interested and there is more information below......

Canary Creative Jam Session:

Two hours of creative brainstorming, evaluation, and marketing strategy to streamline or build your brand, launch a new product, revitalize your website, attract publicity or enhance your visibility. Includes a Canary Creative Tool Kit to help you implement the plan and let your ideas take flight.

 

 

What Was Said to the Rose

As I searched for a poem today to read at The Morningsun Herb Farm event this Saturday (where I will teach a class on the magic of rose flower essences and essential oils) I found this.  The first stanza touches me so deeply.  Roses are the herb of the year for 2012, must be a good sign.  Roses are my favorite - and my mom reports that as a small girl I carried around a scratch and sniff rose catalogue asking people if they would like to smell them.  Moms have the sweetest stories and speaking of which - Happy Mother's Day to all and may you take time to smell the roses.

Don't forget to click on the fantastic youtube link at the bottom to see this poem being read to some lovely music.

What Was Said to the Rose

What was said to the rose that made it open
was said to me here in my chest.

What was told the Cypress that made it strong
and straight, what was

whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made
sugarcane sweet, whatever

was said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil in
Turkestan that makes them

so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush
like a human face, that is

being said to me now. I blush. Whatever put eloquence in
language, that's happening here.

The great warehouse doors open; I fill with gratitude,
chewing a piece of sugarcane,

in love with the one to whom every that belongs!

Poem by Jalaluddin Rumi,
translation ©2005 — Coleman Barks

http://www.greatmotherconference.com/poems/rumi_rose_coleman_barks.html

The Land of Plenty

Sebastopol, CA is one of my all time favorite places.  I go there for inspiration, entertainment and soul.  Yesterday en route to my mom's house (in Sebastopol) I was engaging, somewhat unconscioulsy, in a little negative self-talk (about something I should've or could've done) when I saw this out of the corner of my eye.....

Just the reminder I needed - God I love this town!

Friday 'Picture & Prose'

The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. — Wendell Berry

Flower Fairy Food

Recently while in the kitchen busily doing dishes and listening to Henry explaining something to me, he stopped mid-sentence and said - it is blooming!  "It" is the Jerusalem Sage plant out the sliding glass door and at the end of the deck.  When Brendon was in elementary school they used to pick the blossoms and suck the sweet nectar off of the bottom of the flower and he loved it, so I planted one a few years ago.  Little did I know (at the time) that it would become one of his little brother's favorite things.

Tonight under this

The sage looks like this

And Henry told me he knew what he wanted for a snack on Saturday and went out for a few blossoms on the deck

And then again on Sunday when he went to the store with his dad he said - let me get my snack first - and he made himself a little bowl of 'blossoms to go'.

Be still my beating heart.  Love this little honey bee o' mine :)