Flowers de la Semaine and Doggies in Winter White

Clover and Riley/Vanna White Dog are here to say hello and we have not forgotten about you!   

The flowers in this photo cost me practically nothing at the florist down the street.  They have a fantastic deal in which you get six free roses if you go in wearing your bike helmet.  I love that they promote and reward sustainable transportation this way.  Aren’t those peachy-pink roses great? 

(Clover and Riley think so, too.)

The rest of our family are busy getting Hubby/Dad ready for his impending move to Nevada, which is happening in two weeks.  Much scurrying about and travel plans being made.  SeeSpotRun and I will spend a week there at the end of November. 

Do you think they have good thrift stores in Las Vegas? 

In the meantime, I’ve been indulging in a purely selfish creative pursuit that involves lots of second hand wool sweaters, hand sewing, and wardrobe refashioning.  It’s keeping me sane to have something in my hands to stab and poke with a needle, something I can control, something colorful and natural and recycled to throw energy into when everyone else is asleep. 

More about that in the future, but for now, thanks again to all of you dear friends in blogland who left kind comments to my last post. I’m slowly getting around to visiting all of you and enjoying all your news and thoughts.

XO,

sallymandy

 

Wordless Thursday, Because the Doggies Will Always Help Out on a Busy Day

woof.

photos copyright The Blue Kimono.  2009. 

Flowers de la Semaine and the Age of Aquari-dog

Hi, Everyone.  It’s me, Vanna White Dog.  For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the cutest (and maybe the only) gender-bending doggie in North America.  You can read more about my modeling career here. 

For this week’s Flowers de la Semaine, Clover and I channel flower children with daisies from the Motherdog.  Most of you know the Motherdog as Sallymandy.   

This photo shoot comes from the cabin at Placid Lake that the Greatgrandfatherdog built about fifty years ago.  We spent four exhausting days there. 

Now.  Let’s talk about me. 

Is my daisy chain too long?  Does it make me look fat? 

Clover got some daisies, too. 

I think she looks a little funny.  Kind of like those people we used to see in Haight-Ashbury back in ‘69. 

Here’s another picture of me on the cabin porch.  I’m posing with flowers the Motherdog put in the Greatgrandmotherdog’s yellow thingy.  Some kind of “Fiesta ware gravy boat.”   

I don’t get the fuss about this object.  We did not have a fiesta, and there was no gravy.  Instead, the Motherdog filled the boat with flowers she picked on a looong walk with Clover and me.  

She says these flowers are:      

Ox-eye daisies…

Montana harebells…

and…wild onions?! 

Gee whiz.  Ox!  Hare!  Onions!  Clover and I got pretty hungry on this photo shoot. 

The Motherdog gave us a treat when our work was done…

…and that was pretty groovy. 

Peace, Love and Understanding….Vanna/Riley, and Clover   

Happy Sunday from Clover and Vanna

No, we aren’t wonder dogs who stand still for the camera.   Sallymandy had to yell “WALK” to get us to look at her. 

  

Getting a little bit arty.  How do you like it?   

These are local flowers from the natural foods store.  We hope you enjoy them. 

Woof. 

♥

Blue Flowers, Bioengineering, and Bow Wow

Today, Vanna White Dog (whom most of you know is really a boy named Riley) has invited Clover to help display our Flowers de la Semaine.  That’s Riley on the right.  You can see the whole flower arrangement below. 

Along the way, we’re going to learn a little about blue flowers—the real and the not-so-real.   

Florigene “blue” rose. Click on photo to go to website.

Okay, here are the doggies and the flower bunch.  I put these together with delphiniums from the farmer’s market, and lilies and hydrangea from the grocery store.  I also added a little Queen Anne’s Lace from my yard.  Total cost was about the same as a movie ticket and a Diet Coke.   Well, and maybe a bag of Reese’s Pieces.  In Montana, that’s about twelve dollars.

“Clover, stop sniffing and look at the studio audience.” 

“She’s so fickle.  I can’t count on anyone.”  

I love these flowers.  My inspiration was the blue in the  the outer petals on the delphiniums, and the  hydrangea. 

Real blue flowers are rare.  I couldn’t resist! 

Have you ever noticed that much of what we call blue is actually purple?  

Here are a few “true blues” (with links to their sources):     

The corydalis…

…the bugloss, or forget me not…

…and this Rocky Mountain native, the blue columbine. 

In 2004, a company called Florigene produced a genetically engineered bluish-purple rose using blue genes from pansies.  The photo at the top of the post is that flower. 

Although roses have been cultivated for over 5,000 years, the blue rose has eluded breeders until very recently.  This is because roses lack the gene necessary to produce the blue pigment—called delphinidin. 

The Florigene blue rose does not appear to be commercially available yet.  I read in one source that this company is trying to refine the color, shooting for a sky blue shade.

Florigene does market a line of genetically engineered “blue” carnations (which are really closer to purple), including this one called “Moonvista:” 

Okay.  I generally avoid political issues.  But.  Even if I could get okay with tampered-with crops to lessen world hunger, it is okay to engineer flowers as a marketing scheme?   

These flowers would be exciting to design with, but I’m not sure I could use them with a clear conscience. 

I like the “true blues” better... 

  …morning glory... 

…allium…

 

 

 

 

 

…and these, which are now sitting on my kitchen table.     

“Enough about the dang flowers already.  Can we go to bed now?”

Doggy in Hiding and Flowers de la Semaine

Vanna white dog is not posing with the flowers today.  s/he’s hiding under the bed because s/he’s embarrassed about her fur. 

it’s long and mangy from winter.   but on monday s/he’ll get a sassy new summer ‘do.  and Then—back for more flower posing! 

(if you missed vanna’s last appearances, you can catch them here and here.  woof.)

 

Here’s a bunch of flowers put together with greenery and lilacs from our back yard, and two bunches of flowers from the grocery store. 

AAAhh…can’t you smell spring sliding into summer?