Very little else is going on for me at the moment other than making sure my course work is completed. Mike is on leave from work so he is pottering about doing his thing and keeping us fed, as I just keep forgetting! Jamie is busy playing with his friends, either at the park, downstairs or at their houses, so everyone is happy. Mike has been brilliant and done most of the washing and ironing, allowing me to concentrate but I know when Jamie gets back to school I am going to have to have a big tidy up - so it's tidy my way!
My portfolio is almost complete, I have 3 sections to complete which are the learning journals, a reflective process looking at why, how, what, when. What did I do, how did I do it, why did I do it that way, could it be improved, what worked well, what didn't work well, did I understand, what did I understand etc etc. The daily journals I have completed each day of the course so I now just need to put them into a summary format, which should be pretty simple. I have also done some journals for the theory assignments (but not for all of them) I need to write the journals and then put them into a summary document, and then the same for the practical assignments. Today I have completed the daily journals and have started working on the assignment section, I hope to finish them Thursday as I was just too tired to finish them on Wednesday.
I was too tired because in the afternoon, I got all of my kit ready, my flowers and all of the other bits I need and headed off to Aylesbury. We stopped at Mike's Mum's to leave Jamie, raid her garden of some extra bits of foliage and then Mike took me to Weedon Park, just outside Aylesbury where the Bucks County Show is being held.
Years ago I used to go to Stokesley Show in North Yorkshire, which as a child I loved. My Mum had lots of relatives in Stokesley (it's where my Grandmother's family were from) and we always went to the agricultural show, went to the fair and visited one of my Mum's Aunt and Uncles (who were very very old then) and then one of my Mum's cousins (Uncle Laurie) for tea and we had a lovely day. It also has 'fond' memories for Mike and I too, as it was one of the first places I took him in the North East and it was the first time he met my brother John and his family! It was also the place where he ate something dodgy and became incredibly ill later, it was either mini doughnuts or a roast pork sandwich! As I said at the time, Soft Southern Shandy Drinker, couldn't cope with the North!!!!!
So I wasn't sure what to expect at Bucks CS, would it be as big as Stokesley. When we pulled onto the field, we both realised it was pretty big and there was a lot going on. We got directions to the Home and Garden tent and headed over. I went in and sussed out what was going on, lots of flowers, vegetables, cakes, handicrafts etc. There were some flower arrangers already there so I worked out where I needed to be. Mike helped me unload my stuff and I set up on one of the tables near one of the spaces for one of my arrangements. I now wish I'd taken a couple of photos to get the atmosphere of the event, but I wanted to get on with my arrangements and didn't. Mike headed back to his Mum's for the evening and dinner!
Mike had made a lovely flask of coffee for me to take with me, which later was to become a great boon. I got chatting to the lady at the table next to me who was very nice and we chatted away and worked away for the next couple of hours, stopping when I'd completed my first arrangement for a coffee. As I had two mugs I shared the coffee with her and it was very welcome to both of us!
I decided to tackle the most technically difficult arrangement first and get that one out of the way, it was in the class Elegance in a Candlestick. I decided to be very traditional and do a Hogarth Curve using deep purple calla lillies. I was very pleased with how this arrangement worked and the calla lillies bent perfectly for me. I used a huge chrysanthemum as my focal flower and was pleased with the whole arrangement. I had used a clear glass candlestick and dressed the table with some black voile and white tulle and it set the arrangement off to perfection. I also added in some lisianthus and purple/red foliage to match the colour scheme. I was very pleased with it and so felt I deserved a coffee! Below is the arrangement.
The next arrangement was one in a basket, for the Arrangement in a Basket category. I had got a huge basket and thought I would go for a very strong colour scheme (red and gold) and use some medilano sticks for some added interest and to give it a more modern feel. I was also trying to emulate some of the table arrangements I had seen at the Coventry NAFAS show. So this arrangement I was picturing on coffee table. It was a straightforward all round arrangement with gold chrysanthemums and roses, red carnations and aster, lots of foliage and some gypsophilia. a bit of weaving and some beads I achieved what I wanted with the arrangement.
I left my largest arrangement to the end which was in the An Arrangement with Wood category, and this was a biggie. My neighbour had made me a pair of stands out of a piece of trellis I bought and they are a great asset to my arranging and I will get plenty of use out of them. But I was aiming for a impression of a trellis between two neighbouring gardens , sort looking through my neighbours fence as my working title in my head. There was a lot of work in it as I had to work out how to attach the oasis, which I worked out as I was going along (lots of double sided tape), get the ivy to stay on the top and sides and then make two very large arrangements at the bottom. On one side I went for hot, on the other cool.
Here is the hot side .....
I managed to complete the hot side before the light in the tent got the better of me. Everyone else had gone, there were other people about on the show ground, but the tent felt very empty. It was also very hard to work in the light as they were not the brightest and I was struggling to see, so about 9.30 I gave Mike and shout to come and collect me as I had done as much as I could and I was tired. I'd been there for over 3 and a half hours I felt I would do better in the morning when I had more light to play with. So Mike and Jamie collected me and a very tired me headed home, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
When I got home I got together what I was planning to take the next morning had a bite to eat and went to bed as I knew I had an early start the next day!
Ciao
Sue
XX
Reading challenge 8/16 - currently reading Lovers and Players by Jackie Collins
Jamie's Reading challenge 5/12 - currently reading Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull by James Luceno
SLYMI - 1/52
Finally a kenzan or pin holder (85p a snip!) used for Ikebana, some copper coloured wire, feathers, candle holder and some blacks beads on wire. 
this is one of my favourites the Stegosaurus,
and above is Big Al, the Allosaurus
Another of my favourites, Ankylosaurus
