Foxy Business

and a hand tied bouquet.

Well, I’ve just had an interesting encounter. We’re off out tonight for a meal at the home of an important customer of my husband’s, of course I’m going to take flowers for his wife. My first plan was to buy something a bit special from the wholesalers, but I arrived there to find that they’ve changed their opening hours and now close an hour earlier. So on to plan B, Sainsbury’s.

I chose a mixed bouquet but wanted to make it a bit more special so added a bunch of vibrant magenta spray carnations and some lovely speckled mauve alstroemeria to mix in with the burgundy and white of the main bouquet. It’s amazing how much more special you can make flowers look with a little time and patience.

Once we arrived home, I removed the lower leaves and recut the stems and put them for a cool drink in the garage. An hour or so later, I decided to create the hand-tied bouquet, which is something that I still find a little tricky.

I started placing the stems into my left hand, creating a spiral. It was all going well. I looked out into the garden and wondered if there was a ginger cat at the bottom of the garden, but then with the excitement that only a non-poultry keeper can feel, I saw that it was a beautiful russet coloured fox enjoying the sunshine down by my cutting patch.

I couldn’t put the bouquet down, it was going really well, but where was my phone? This doesn’t happen very often, I need photographic evidence. I found my phone in the kitchen (completely missing the moment when said fox headed directly towards the conservatory). He came and sat in the new triangle bed between us and the greenhouse. I knew he was there, I could see him moving amongst the plants, but there was no way that I could get a photo. There I was, juggling a bouquet in one hand and an unfocused phone in the other, trying to decide if video or a still photo was the better option.

The fox couldn’t have hidden from me more thoroughly if it had tried. I suppose they spend their whole lives keeping out of sight of prying eyes. Eventually he headed off up the garden again and I endeavoured to get one or two shaky unfocussed snaps with one hand. The bouquet came out well though.