PEONY MANIA! It's CRAZY!

I mean- I nearly passed out and thought that I had died and gone to heaven...

I was at the flower market early this morning (sorry just my iphone not my camera- who knew I would have such a sighting!)
The colors- so many shades of pink and creams and whites and those dark dark Bordeaux color and coral too!

For those of you that are SO OVER the peony- good news- we will be moving on from the peony love with a whole new topic- tomorrow- but just couldn't help myself one more time (and I know it is also shocking that I didn't buy ANY of these beauties- but I was on my way to Carmel for the day and they just wouldn't have done well in the car)

peony love

I took these photos out in the country side about 2 hours north of Venice.
It has just finished raining out and the rain droplets were just magical as they formed on the peonies.
The smell was heaven as you can imagine with the fresh rain and the lovely subtle peony scent.

Why is it that we all love the peony so much?
For the beauty of them? The history?

The peony is named after Paeon or Paean, a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. Asclepius became jealous of his pupil; Zeus saved Paeon from the wrath of Asclepius by turning him into the peony flower.

I made the first shot in this series my desktop photo and I just can't seem to get enough. It takes me back to the vacation and all of the happy memories. I am excited to get these framed to start to display and sell in our showroom.

Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day- and a thank you to all of special ladies in my life (you know who you are) and I thank each and everyone of you for guiding me and mentoring me into the person that I am today.

(This photo is from my dinner party last night- I like to start with simple snacks- often time people fill up too much on starters and ruin themselves for the dinner so I served simple- Asian snack mix and kumquats. Made a refreshing cantaloupe and mint cocktail as well)