Mrs. Teabody Says "Lavender's Blue"






"Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green
When I am king, dilly, dilly, You shall be queen
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so"

"Lavender" window at Tickle Your Fancy
A few weeks back Mrs. Teabody decided she wanted to celebrate lavender in a memorable manner this spring in her darling little shop, Tickle Your Fancy. The little front garden is already a tribute of sorts to lavender with two established clusters of this rambling perennial and inside the shop one can always find lavender soaps, bath salts and lotions from Pre De Provence as well as a number of teas including Earl Grey Lavender, The Dowager Countess, and Anna. Mrs. Teabody each year makes a few lavender wands and presents them to special folks who are especially enchanted by lavender's soothing fragrance. Clearly, lavender has a friend in Mrs. Teabody as well as many, many folks of Mrs. Teabody's acquaintance. Lovely stuff, lavender. Soothing. Relaxing.




As a feature of this homage to lavender, Mrs. Teabody decided to paint an old dining room chair in this subtle hue so off to the local Tru Value store she motored seeking her friend David for the  appropriate color and therein lies the rub. Among all those paint chips and color cards could Mrs. Teabody find exactly the hue she desired? No, Gentle Reader, she could not so she settled somewhat unhappily on "Lavender Mist".


It was at this moment that Mrs. Teabody realized she would soon be running afoul of her initial plan because in spite of her great adoration of lavender, there was, to cloud the color wheel of her imagination, the lovely lilac, the enchanting violet and the passionate purple.  She was soon to learn that she was not alone in her diversion. From her packaging guru, Mrs. Teabody had ordered lavender tissue paper, lavender bags, lavender ribbon and lavender tulle. First order of the day was the construction of a mock Maypole constructed of lavender tulle and white grosgrain ribbon. Splendid. Pretty. A true lavender.  Mrs. Teabody teetered at the top of her trusty ladder and hung the Maypole. Perfect color combo. Precisely what she had in mind. 

Mrs. Teabody had next imagined a huge stack of presents wrapped in the lavender tissue and tied with white grosgrain. Cracking open the package of tissue paper Mrs. Teabody and Maggie found it to be purple--but what a purple! A soul-satisfying, spunky, punch-drunk, "Oooooh, I love it" purple.  Very very close to the color of the ensemble Queen Elizabeth II wears in this 90th birthday picture sipping a cuppa.


Irresistible color so the wrapping of fifteen boxes of assorted sizes commenced, each bearing a white grosgrain bow. They looked smashing and soon they were placed under the Maypole and  topped with all the lovely new products: linen water, shower gel, body lotion along with the tried-and-true bath salts, luxurious soaps and hand creams and the effect was somewhat different than imagined but entirely satisfactory.

Mrs. Teabody looked at the display and said to helpmate Maggie: "It goes a  bit more Prince than Mother's Day, don't you think?"

And Maggie said, " That's okay, right?"

An hour later the world learned that a soul-satisfying, spunky, punch-drunk, "Oooooh, I love it" purple was exactly the shade of "lavender" that was appropriate.

Comments

  1. Ken KeebaughJuly 9, 2016 at 1:50 PM

    All the shades and hues of the purple family are my favorite section of the color wheel.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mrs. Teabody Reflects on Hallowe'en and Asks Forbearance for Rushing the Seasons

Image
Yesterday morning I woke to pouring rain and chose for my morning walk a turtleneck, jeans, and an insulated vest, along with scarf, hat and gloves. By one o'clock I was in short sleeves and Mr. Teabody was "catching some rays" inside the secret garden. Crazy October and as we slide into its finale of Hallowe'en, I can't help recalling a day inside my classroom with an administrator and the topic of devil worship. Like most female teachers, I paid homage to the seasons and holidays by way of door decorations and bulletin boards and as this was in the days just prior to political correctness, angels and the Christ child showed up for a few weeks before Christmas with the same regularity as colorful baskets of eggs and bunnies alongside a glowing cross for a few weeks before Easter. And what teacher (like myself) was going to let Hallowe'en go by with all its cool imagery and not take advantage of the chance to decorate? I had the gamut of images bought a
Read more

Mrs. Teabody Reflects on a Trip and Kindness

Image
I am wide awake looking at the moon and stars in the June sky through a window while I am lying in a comfortable bed inside a rental house in Penzance, Cornwall, England. I can count on one hand the times in my life I have been able to see a starry starry sky as sleep finds me. It's a doozy. I want to tell you about our first day here--Saturday-- before I lose the feeling.  Saturday morning started in tension: My three companions pictured above at Saint Michael's Mound had to make the 7:00 A.M. train from London  Paddington-- all four of us with all our luggage -- and we also had to meet up with two other friends inside huge Paddington Station because I had their tickets. All that went off without a hitch and the six of us managed to get on the train  in our assigned seats, our many pieces of luggage stowed on the main rack at the end of the car.  So far so good.  Great Western Rail have a scheme on weekends where you can upgrade to first class for twenty-
Read more

Mrs. Teabody Celebrates Her Father

Image
Back row: Richard Henry, Reed Henry, Pete Henry, Raymond Henry Front row: John Henry, Sally Henry, Wendell Henry Tomorrow is Father's Day. My father passed in May of 2006 so quite a few June Sundays dedicated to honoring fathers have passed without someone on the receiving end of a funny card, a poke of RedMan, a singing bass to hang on the wall and my life is poorer for it. I grew up in a home with three brothers and three sisters, a stay-at-home mom, a work away father, and I have always known what it means to be born a Henry but it is only in my very late years that I have come to fully appreciate the great gift of my heritage. Pictured above are some of the biggest influences on my early life. This photograph was taken in 1966 at a Henry gathering in Clear Ridge, less than a mile from where the folks in the photograph grew up--the five handsome and witty uncles, the beautiful and vivacious aunt and all of them so very happy in each other's company. With them came the
Read more