Buying Flowers

   Last Wednesday I decided to do something I hadn't done in a long time. I had a bunch of nice containers that I had collected over the years. I was going to pick one out, take it to a local floral shop and have them fill it up.
  This was something I used to do a lot when I was single. In fact I used to buy a fresh bouquet of flowers about every two weeks. Most of the time I bought carnations. I like the shape, the variety of colours and the fact that they tended to last a long time. I even had a florist make a couple of silk flower arrangements in various vases and baskets. Flowers were my favourite decorative item and I liked to have some sort of fresh, dried or silk arrangements in almost every room of my house.
   I liked to scope out different florists and look at the arrangements in the coolers. If I liked what I saw I would buy from them. If they had nice or odd containers with arrangements in them I would buy the arrangement and bring the container back for a refill. I liked seeing what the floral designer would do. It would never be the same twice and would always be lovely.
  There is a real art to floral design. I have tried to make arrangements out of the bouquets that you can get at a grocery store. It never looks as good as when a floral designer does it.
  I like when a floral department has an open counter so you can watch the designer at work. It's almost magical how they can take a handful of flowers and greens and turn it into this masterpiece.
  I went downstairs to look for a container. The shelf was full. I have one in the shape of a yellow happy face. There were glass vases in blue, clear and lavender. There was a container with a ceramic bear holding it. There was another one in the shape of a high heeled shoe. Right behind the shoe was the perfect container. It was round, small and pastel. Perfect for some light summer flowers and easy to get home. I took it upstairs. There were several errands I needed to run. I saved the flower shop for last. I didn't want the flowers to sit in a hot car.
  I had found a local florist that I liked a few months ago. Anytime I need to get flowers I go to this shop. The people are nice, the shop is well set up and the designers are good. I brought my container in and asked the florist to fill it with whatever she thought was appropriate.
  While I waited I looked around the shop. Flower shops always seem peaceful and cozy.  I think it must be the influence of the growing plants that are kept there. Green living things create a healthy atmosphere. There were some books with bouquets in them in the back. I looked at them. There were all kinds of interesting arrangements. Many of them had lilies and roses in them. I noticed quite a few had lavender roses. It's my favourite rose colour and not real common. Maybe it was fashionable now.
  After awhile my container was done. She brought it out. It was lovely. There were yellow daisies, mums, stattice, pink mini carnations and some other flowers I had never seen before. It was just what I had hoped for. I went to the counter to pay. It cost less than I expected.
  I remembered why I used to do this so often. Flowers always brighten up any day. No matter what kind of day I had it ways always nice to come home and see flowers. It was one of the few indulgences I allowed myself.
  I had stopped doing it because we had moved a few times and my vases were mostly packed away. Now that we are settled and my vases are more accessible, I should get flowers more often. It's hard for me to feel stressed looking at a bunch of colourful flowers. Day brightener and stress reliever, who couldn't use that?