Passionflower Design Celebrates with Festones

Happy Cinco de Mayo, which contrary to general thinking, is not Mexican Independence Day.....It celebrates winning some battle against the French (I think).......But near as I can figure, it is one more reason

the Mexican people have found to celebrate. They have their priorities straight don't you think?
Here's a church in Chiapas all decked out. Those ubiquitous colorful hanging paper (or plastic) pieces flying in the wind are not Buddhist prayer flags......they are called "festones" in Mexico and they are strung everywhere for celebrations. They have different ones for different occasions. We're selling brightly colored ones with flower themes and we have great all white wedding ones too..(stay tuned and I'll show a photo)....

Here's a photo of a tiny street mercado. The market is, to me, one of the essential Mexican experiences. The mexican people love trade and commerce and the conviviality of shopping. Hey we like that too at Passionflower!!

Here's a native women selling her corn at the local mercado. Do you love her woven bag? I did enough to spend half a day searching out their source. Could only find small ones which I brought back and watched fly out the door.

And here's a little shrine to the Virgen of Guadalupe filled with flowers and candles.......So Happy Cinco de Mayo & Happy Mother's Day too......the sun is shining today and I still miss Mexico!

Hooray Hooray the First of May

......Halfway between spring and summer....They say, drink from a well before sunrise, wash in morning dew (I'm going to get right on that as soon as I'm done this post), wear flowers and greenery, dance the maypole, and have a hilltop bonfire......

It is the florists holiday - dedicated to the Greek Goddess Flora.... I was going to find photos like these -

But then for some reasons I'm not quite sure about, I decided instead to celebrate the wearing of flowers and greenery by sharing some shots from one of my favorite books about body flowers.

Natural Fashion - Tribal Decoration from Africa

So here you go - in honor of May Day and the mystical union between heaven and earth, man and nature.

Happy May Day.

Wedding Flowers on My Mind

Working on updating the website and so I've been going through old wedding photos. Here's an oldie buy goodie taken by James at Studio Coburg. I love the little green pom poms. We've got some great brides with strong points of view this year so it will be a fun wedding season. Please don't hesitate to recommend us to any friends getting married......and we can help with more than the flowers. We have great jewelry for the modern romantics, fun gifts for bridal showers, a registry and great wedding gifts. Let the season of love begin.

Pearls & Gemstones abound at Passionflower

I am so excited I can hardly stand it........Susan Goodwin's coming down from Seattle with a car full of great jewelry. This is her 3rd annual Mother's Day trunk show.....and she pulls out all the stops......there will be pearls, there will be color there will be something for you & your mom too!
So come on by this Saturday afternoon anytime after 2........

Susan Goodwin Jewelry Comes to Passionflower

We couldn't be more pleased, honored, and excited to welcome our longtime friend & amazing jeweler/artist from Seattle Susan Goodwin, who's coming here to do a trunk show on May Day!!!!

(that's the 1st of May)

We've been carrying her work for a long time and she never ceases to amaze us......At some point you think, "Well how many ways can you wrap pearls and gemstones?"...in Susan's case the possibilities seem endless.....And she's not being clever. She's genuinely considering, not only what looks good as a piece of jewelry, but what looks good on a living, breathing woman......

She is that rare combination of talent and acumen......that's my way of saying she's not just a great artist, she's a great business person too. And as a retailer that's meaningful.

I can count on her not only to get me the product, but to continue producing innovative and beautiful work.

Here's some shots from her Pools of Light Collection......If you know someone getting married, you might suggest Pools of Light for wedding jewelry or bridesmaids gifts.







She'll be bringin' it to the store Saturday afternoon from 2 -5......
Plus there will be loads of one of a kind pieces using pearls, gemstones, and other goodies...If
it's anything like the last two shows she's done here you can count on a feast of color and stone and light.




How did I get so lucky? This is a world class trunk show not to be missed.

Click here to see Susan's website.

And feel free to send us any photos of you or friends wearing her jewelry.

A Different Kind of Mushroom

Do you know what these are? They're a common mushroom (more specifically I think thought of as a "shelf fungus") found in lots of places all over the world and in the States we call them turkey tails (trametes versicolor)..Curiosly, they're a major component in many herbal anti cancer formulas....I am fascinated by how they grow in concentric rings. Plus, they have a super velvety texture when they're fresh.

And their colors are more nuances of earth tones than you knew about.

I found a whole bunch out in the filbert orchard behind my house. It's pruning time and there were lots of downed logs with loads of turkey tails growing on them.

I brought some home and thought about displaying them all science like....maybe pinned onto some black paper with names and arrows written in white ink.

But then I decided........to make one big hybrid rosette out of them.

And enjoy it on my front porch for a while.
Turkey tails mesmerize me.

Longing for Mexico

It's raining and I miss Mexico - it's noise, it's color, it's civility, it's age.

Some pages from when I first started my travel journal: Yucatan November 08. I don't journal much but traveling seems to bring it out in me.

Here's one of my favorite pages from my Chiapas trip.

It says, " the river of life"....I had just come back from witnessing a beautiful Easter procession in the town of Zinacantan......And I had been interested in exploring the egg shape..a young Mayan girl (who was selling trinkets with her brother) made the drawing on the bottom of the page and gave it to me when she was done.

Oaxaca anyone?