As the heatwave grips Spain, we will head to northern Europe this summer in search of cooler weather. Our summer holiday is planned around several ikebana activities in the Netherlands and Belgium, so it was befitting to use the small Delft pottery houses, that are received free while flying KLM, as mini vases for an ikebana arrangement for children.
Emptied long ago, the little houses were originally filled with Dutch gin. As my youngest daughter arranged three of the houses on a mirror tray, she told me that the spout on the top of each house looked like a chimney.
As she decided on the placement of the houses she exclaimed that 230C (730F) will be very cold compared to Madrid and so everyone will need to have their heaters turned on. She used Liriope to create ‘smoke’ billowing from each of the chimneys.
After she added an Agapanthus flower, she declared that she was finished. However, I reminded her that she had forgotten two things. After thinking for a few moments she remembered that: 1. She needed to clean-up, and 2. She had forgotten to take a step back and view her arrangement from a few steps away.
