Saturday ritual.

I’ve had a Saturday ritual for a long time that improves my entire week.

I arrange flowers.

I started doing it a few years ago — back when I was blogging at another site and posting Sunday Suppers regularly.  A proper supper table has never felt right to me without flowers and since I couldn’t afford to buy arranged flowers from a florist, I became a DIY’er.

Before we moved to this new town, I had a beautiful wildflower garden in my back yard. It produced enough stems to fill vases almost all summer long. But I arrived at our new location too late in the season to plant anything, so I’ve had to rely on purchased flowers every week.  It’s a luxury, I know. Even at the grocer’s, fresh flowers can get expensive, but I make room in my grocery budget for them because a bouquet improves my outlook on life considerably.

The flowers decorate our table Sunday evening. Then I move the vase to the kitchen island for the rest of the week, where it brightens up every moment spent in the kitchen. (And we spend a lot of moments in the kitchen.)

Over the years, I’ve become a much better flower arranger.

Especially in the beginning, my arrangements were stilted and often lopsided. But as my ad-hoc skills improved, so did my eye. Now I just grab, cut and place stems with no forethought or measuring and it all seems to come out right.

And the two flower frogs I purchased recently have made the job so much easier.

If you haven’t arranged flowers in a while (or ever), give it a try.  Take a walk around your neighborhood and see if there’s any stems you can snip for free. You’d be surprised how many wildflowers grow beside the road. Or pick up a small and inexpensive bouquet at the grocery store. Don’t worry if you don’t have a vase. Use a Mason jar.  Or an empty pickle jar with the label removed. Or a pretty tumbler. Or a teapot. Almost any container will do.

Mary, Mary quite contrary,

my how your smile grows.