The egg cup and the tulip

I do know what I like. I think that must be a decent place to start or indeed to go back to because imagine not knowing what you really liked.

I like sometimes to like something because I know its going to have a purpose with something else I like in the future. I like increasingly silly things but with character, always with character.

I saw an egg cup last year on ebay. I spend a lot of time looking at egg cups, my god there are some hideous ones and you wonder what poor person had to fire the batch of them in a kiln somewhere often very far flung. I always have liked pottery, its one of the reasons I spent some five years almost working and living in Stoke on Trent at the Emma Bridgewater Pottery, it was amazing seeing the results of the human hand upon what was in the beginning great slabs of clay.

Anyway eBay is a great place to find things in the absence of decent charity shops. Indeed is it just me but are charity shops not as good as they used to be? My mum, thinks anything decent in the local Sue Ryder is taken out, maybe she is right who knows but anyway eBay although it entails postage costs is a nice, naughty thing to get addicted to. My nan, Min would love a coach trip, all dolled up, to the coast and she and her friends would begin the day visiting a garden then they would all be dropped off after, in the nearby town and it would be a charity shop scrum. Those oldies knew how to live, the over fifty club indeed, endless trips all summer long.

Anyway, today an ebay purchase met its reason for being bought. A quite mad cockerel egg cup from America paired with a striped red and white tulip. I had hoped I’d have a few of the parrot variety that is red and white and very ruffled Estella Rijnveld but I only have the smooth petaled ‘Carnaval De Rio’ some will think its dire, I cannot decide if it is awful but I sort of love it!

A bit of hassle to get the said tulip to nest in the egg cup as a tulip stem is not like an egg!

A blob of blue tact and tiny bit of chicken wire as seen it nest into the very shallow and slippy bowl and its stem has had to be short but there we are and I love them together. He looks like he has a very chic umbrella for this weeks sunshine according to his eBay listing he was hand made in the 1950’s oh and enjoy the sun. SPF 50 ! I recommend Trinny Woodall’s, its the nicest.

Also, this coming weekend, I’m doing a flower arranging demonstration at Raby Castle, the 3rd at 2pm - tickets are only £7 quid so come along if you are in this part of the world, I haven’t visited before (I don’t want to see how long the train journey is going to be) but my friend Becky Crowley is doing wonders with the walled garden there and its cut flowers so I know it will be beautiful - here’s the link to book and see what else is on as part of their garden spring fair - raby castle flower arranging demo book here

best Arthur x