Finally after days, weeks & months of endless rain and storms, we have some winter sun. I stopped today in the garden; eyes closed and face towards the sky to soak up as much as I could and it felt wonderful.
I have become (predictably) obsessed with snowdrops in these last few weeks, intent on finding the best snowdrop walk in Cheshire and making plans to pot up a vast collection of heritage varieties in old pots and jugs to scatter around the house. I can guarantee I won't have chance to do either but I still feel optimistic - their delicate little heads poking out of the barren earth making Spring feel so near.
In amongst lots of flower plan writing and preparations for this months weddings, I put two rolls of old camera film in this week to be developed and I could not be more pleased with the prints currently laid across the kitchen table.
We have over exposure, under exposure, many blank images and numerous other film photography faux pas, but I'm still happy. I feel like an excited child walking in to collect my prints, struggling to remember what I even took photos of which adds to the excitement tenfold. I found some candid shots taken by Katy in Cornwall last year whilst I picked buds and foliage from the garden to weave into a crown, mixed in with images of buckets filled with early winter blooms from January weddings this year and even a few I took dodging in between the professionals at Amy Faith's workshop last week. I had forgotten about my trip to Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm in the Lake District at the end of 2015 until I saw it in print, complete with half filled wheelbarrow in the vegetable garden. I share my favourites below, unedited and full of mistakes but they document where I have been and what I have done (so easily forgotten), and for that I love them.
^ This one I will admit to editing, as it originally appeared in a lovely shade of turquoise.
In other news, and just in time for the spring, a potential new V&T studio space is in discussion and already my mind is racing on how to convert a lovely old stable into a practical and beautiful (equally important) workspace for the future of this floral business I am growing. I dare to say too much as this early stage, but will be sure to provide more when I know.
But for now on this chilly February evening there is a chicken roasting in the oven (one of the most comforting smells in the world) and ribbon to be pressed for this weekends wedding - not a bad start to the month of February.