The Top Quality in Your Life--Enjoy Flowers

Refresh The Top Quality in Your Life --Enjoy Flowers

The vase of flowers is a symbol of all the wealth of nature, brought indoors and arranged in its simplest form.  So refreshing and so fine an example of quality that seems to be put forth effortlessly, flowers speak to us in their own way.  The symbolic language of flowers was widely used in the Middle Ages by everyone, to express the feelings held in common by the masses, who could not read, and had no access to other forms of communication, often needing to say without words what they were forbidden to say out loud.

And flowers are sweet expressions of affection used by all.

Arranging flowers ia a great way to summon the same harmonies into your own life.  If you don't have access to flowers, you can always find illustrations of them.  Silk flowers are also a way to have the same energy visually represented.

This allows the spiritual beauty of the natural forms to be expressed in a new way, showing also the hand of human desires for harmony.  A cultural expression of appreciation, flower arrangement is an ancient art in many cultures.  Temples and churches feature floral displays, and every occasion of life is celebrated with flowers.

The vase is the symbol of the forces of affection being expressed in a spiritual way.  Add a few candles, and you have a display of harmony that soothes the inner being as few other expressions are able to do.  Flowers are of short duration in themselves, yet they express the eternal so strongly that they are held in reverence by all.

Wild flowers in Big Sur are a special treat.  When it's a good flower year, the hills are splashed with color as if someone had dumped out the paint bucket.


Come and visit!

New!  Youtube video: http://youtu.be/XmcVpeYVL3E

Three ways to visit me:

www.bettyofbigsur.com  My web site, where you will find information and updates about events and my work,

www.etsy.com/shop/bettyofbigsur, a shop to showcase and sell examples of my art and fashion designs,

www.retreatcampchecklist.com, a checklist about camping retreats, to let you know what is here, and let me know what you would like to have, and to do, in Big Sur!  Fun, quick, instant feedback!

Community and Hand Made Life

Community and Hand Made Life

This is my great-grandmother, Anna Nowak Novatne Horn, holding my grandfather, Alfred Sigmund Horn, in his dress-up outfit.  At that time, boys were kept in dresses until they were several years old.
The dress is of thin fabric covered with embroidery.

Three years later, at the age of four, the young man proudly showed off his new rifle!
People grew up fast in the mountains of Colorado.

The dress that Anna is wearing is made of several types of lace combined, and she is wearing an apron made of thin fabric with tucks and lace at the bottom.  Her high collar is typical of the attire worn by a young mother in those times.

The Novatne and Nowak families emigrated from Prague in Bohemia during the 1860s.  They were masters of wood carving, and textile arts, as well as other types of hand creations that were of high refinement and very much in demand for the homes of the wealthy.  The Novatnes were costume makers for the Vaudeville show business tradition in New York, as well as being active in the intellectual life of the region.  Anna spoke six languages.

The family traditions of art and wood carving held for many generations, and clans of artists lived together sharing their resources.  These types of community interactions formed the core of artistic life for generations in old Bohemia.

 There would be a large gathering each day at meals to share whatever had come to the family.  This tradition of sharing made sure that everyone had what was needed in life.  In this way, clans of artists made their way for centuries in whatever types of circumstances came along.  The table would be decorated splendidly with hand made linens and all types of ornaments, to assure everyone had a place among whatever wealth had been accumulated.

"There is a strength of quiet endurance as significant of courage as the most daring feats of prowess."....Henry Tuckerman

Anna's hardanger and silk embroidery are still very beautiful to this day.