My Creative Space: Patience or four more sleeps

Patience is a great skill for creative people to acquire. Sometimes we just need to trust that all the work and preparation will lead us to our desired outcome especially when we are not sure what the end product will be. Years of gardening has nurtured the skill in me. You would not bother to plant something without the belief that it will grow but the speed and habit of that growth are never absolutely known. This peony is a case in point. This is our ninth summer in this house with much of the present garden already established by the previous owners of the house. The garden possesses another peony just outside our dining room window that has produced a profusion of blossoms faithfully every summer. There was this other plant that we were fairly sure was another peony but we had yet to see it bloom. The condition for peonies were being met in its location so it was somewhat baffling that it had never bloomed and we could have given up on it. I decided that I would give it one more year in its spot before I would move it. This year we have this beautiful solitary bloom. Definitely worth the wait!


I am pulled away from actually making stuff this week: I am processing an unfruitful appointment with a specialist about a chronic health problem, my daughter got a body cast today that will stay on for six weeks this summer to help correct a spinal problem and I am preparing for the trip to England with the Choir. Of course, I am still planning new projects and am always doings some of the mental preparations for a multitude of plans. Active creativity this week is to be found problem solving and making family meals to suit our sudden heat wave. I like to prepare food that is seasonal and the ingredients pictured here make a salad that I wait all year long for. I love fresh strawberries but would never dream of buying them out of season. We have some developing plants in our veggie patch but not enough for this salad yet. The recipe for the dressing is simple: 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 3 Tbsp. oil, 3 Tbsp. water, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp. sesame seeds, 1 tsp. Poppy, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 chopped scallion. Whisk the dressing up and toss with spinach, sliced strawberries, and almonds or sunflower seeds. The two smaller pyrex dishes are recent thrifts and go with the Butter print bowl that I already have. I will keep my eyes open for the lids and other pieces of refrigerator sets. The cheerful prints and colours make me understand why there are obsessive collectors of pyrex.

I could not believe that I found this Emma Bridgewater Biscuit tin for $1.99 with the sugar tin inside it for free. I am sure that whoever donated the tins did not understand how desirable Emma Bridgewater is. Tucked in behind is a lovely camisole from Jacob and a blue enamelled cast iron dutch oven that I believe to be Descoware as it is marked made in Belgium and I have done a little research as to its shape and colour. I am particularly excited about this find and feel it will clean up brilliantly. More about it in a future post except to say that a enamelled cast iron dutch oven has been on my wish list for quite a long time and I really had never expected that I would find it in a preferred colour and at thrift prices.

The photo here is of the thyme carpet starting to grow in the spaces of some rather ugly cement pavers on the east side of our house. I started planting the space between the pavers with thyme three years ago with replanting when some of the plants did not survive the winter. We now have a beautiful destination in the garden that smells delicious where once there was an eyesore. The patience gardening has taught me has allowed me to know to wait for things our family uses until I can find them second-hand and give them a second life. In parenting, I know that even when an expected chore is not always initiated by my children, it is right for me to continue expect that it eventually will be.

I need this kind of patience when I tell myself there are only 4 more (three when publishing this post) until I leave with my two younger boys for their choir trip to England. I know that I will experience many inspiring sites and sounds that will fill my creative space for a long time. For other creative spaces, check out all the other posts linked on Kristy's blog