There were celebrations

There are normally not that much out of season flowers at our place, as my partner, the permacultorist gardner, often preaches against imported greenhouse flowers, so I tend to shy away from buying them myself. It’s the whole consciousness on diversity not being necessarily variety around the clock, but everyone living in Germany knows how one already desperately craves for colors at this point of the [not lighting or warm enough] season. It has been really cold and grey again in Berlin since I came back, and the many beautiful flowers blossoming in the garden downstairs are not that free of effort to admire right now. It is not nice enough for more than a moment outside yet, it has to be more pleasant and inspiring than only green plants indoors. In Portuguese we say em casa de ferreiro, espeto de pau, which is an idiomatic expression, literally meaning in a blacksmith's house, the stick is made of wood, and probably translating to something like the English one the shoemaker's son always goes barefoot. Well, the gardener is out of town, and I am refusing not to use my skills on my own apartment studio.

It was my birthday a few days ago, I got to go crazy and buy a colorful bunch of countryside flowers for my own pleasure, to which the mother of my favorite 5 year old added two pinkish white roses. The day after the neighbors came visit and gave me orange tulips. Today my two teenager students spent the afternoon in shifts and brought a massive roses and freesias light burgundy bouquet. We had carrot cake leftovers, my grandma’s recipe that I taught them when they were around 7 each and first approaching the Portuguese language. Their mother, who after almost 9 years feels like a family friend, also came and had a coffee while we were doing a comunal break, just before leaving with the younger one. We chatted on future plans for her children and our forest laboratory in Portugal. 

When they all left and I realized that the week was finally over, I couldn't help noticing the compact, inhabited silence and reminiscing of past glorious premieres, dernieres and end-of-season theatre with children shows for their families: in the end there were always the flowers, sometimes chocolates too. I’m ok with the amount of joy and sugar for now. 

Neighbors’ tulips

Meadow flowers from myself 

Freesias and roses bouquet by a lovely family