I picked up a pretty little notepad as a souvenir for my dear friend Page while in the Carolinas; and just loved seeing the dogwood, redbud and many(!) tiger swallowtails while driving along I40. North Carolina in particular had plots of 6 or so dogwoods planted along the highway—mostly white, with a pink thrown in randomly—that were just past peak.

Moreover, the notebook inside has a similar look and feel, with gold ink, and that morrisesque design sense:

Giftwrap, 22apr2016. box measures 2.25 x 4-1/8 x 7.25 inches (HxWxL); decorations add another 2 inches. Paper, narrow fabric ribbon, vintage velvet ribbon, curling ribbon, decorative wire with stars, easter grass, silk & plastic flowers, plastic beads, metallic bow.

The flowers and butterflies are plainly fantasy creations, but some of them are surprisingly close to the pretty little bluets I saw in the Catalochee campground, and in any event little blue flowers tend to be spring ephemerals.

It's been awhile since I've done any serious giftwrapping, but although I took the trouble to find a nice piece of paper, I scavenged most of the decorations from stuff lying about, rather than digging deep into the huge boxes of silk flowers that should keep me supplied for the rest of my natural life. I particularly liked the way the graduated silk flower mum and pinkish metallic beads co-ordinated with the blush velvet ribbon.

A quickly made second view of the same image, showing the mum. SonyRX100, with cloudy setting, which is usually pretty close to ‘shade’ (or the very early morning light I had.)^[1]

I liked this piece enough to take the trouble to swap out zuiko macro for the lensbaby, and set up a lace curtain to co-ordinate with the soft, romantic, springy sensibility. I love spring, I really do.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.