In a Vase on Monday: An English Memory

Not that I'm old or anything but I remember being in London when bells all over the city were ringing to celebrate the birth of Prince William.  My college choir had just completed a tour of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales and I was smitten with the history, architecture, and people of  "This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."    Upon our arrival in May, I'd been disappointed to find Westminster Abbey closed to the public.  There was a group gathered outside so I joined them.  My disappointment at the closure was soon replaced with giddiness as first Prince Charles and Then Her Majesty arrived, dressed in regalia for an Order of the Bath installation ceremony.  What a thrill for a foreigner to stumble upon this quite by accident.

Today's vase is a memento of that trip, a little Wedgwood jasperware piece that I'd brought home to my mother.

Contents include memories of the season past: berries of Dichroa febrifuga and Gaultheria mucronata, along with newly sprung blooms of Hamamelis × intermedia 'Diane' and various evergreens.

The vase is sitting atop a doily crocheted by my mother, also an Elizabeth.

The small trinket box was a piece I brought home from that trip for myself and the plate behind was found at a thrift shop priced  at less than a dollar.

The dried hydrangea got tossed in because there should be something to go with the blue jasperware.

Also from England is our fabulous host, Cathy,  at Rambling in the Garden.  Click here to see Cathy's vase  and to find links to those of other participating bloggers.