Just one of about a thousand reasons why I have the dearest Sweetheart in the entire world: he loves giving me flowers. AND wrote down the name of my favorite florist (Winston Flowers) the first time I ever mentioned it...which would've been...oh, right after we first met, over 6 years ago...and has used nothing but that florist ever since!

And one of many reasons why I love Winston Flowers: because on the extremely rare occasions when they make a mistake and you bring it to their attention, they listen carefully to your complaint, apologize sincerely, and then make it right, without you having to work for it.

This Valentine's Day was the second time (in over 10 years of being a loyal customer!) that I've ever had a problem with them. The bouquet Jack sent me was lovely--all spring greens and pinks and lavenders--my Sweet Pea knows my preferences well! But it's freezing here in Boston, and the hydrangeas in the bouquet spent a little too much time in the cold, while being delivered, and by the second day, they were drooping.

A quick call to Winston's--and a new bouquet was on the way. Unfortunately, *another* mistake was made--and the bouquet they sent me was one of their Valentine's Day bouquets--a nasty looking thing with American Beauty-type red roses, deep purple dendrobiums, a bit of purple stock and deep maroon calla lilies...and NOT the spring bouquet that Jack had ordered for me. Very sophisticated, bold, modern looking and sculptural--and no doubt it's very appealing to the hip young urban professional, but as most of you know, I'm a Victorian at heart, not even REMOTELY modern--don't even own a tv, for Pete's sake--and to me, it just looked like a Goth's valentine--much too grim, and not even remotely romantic. (But then, I don't even LIKE red roses--or even the color red--so I'm definitely not the right audience for anything with red roses in it! )

So I called back the next day, and explained that another mistake had been made--and yet again, got a handsome apology--along with the explanation that yes, it appeared I'd gotten the wrong order...and when I elaborated on it my love of spring colors, and the English cottage garden look, the woman I spoke with told me she'd take care of it personally--and assured me that it would be frilly and fresh and girly.

A few hours later, my door buzzed, and there was my new bouquet--looking even prettier than the first one! A special effort had clearly been made to use only flowers that are sturdy and long-lasting...so I wound up with white lilacs, green snowballs, pink callas, pink ranunculus, violet tulips, pink roses and even a few lovely pink and white peonies...and I simply couldn't resist doing a new picture for my journal of them, today.

Aren't they wonderfully springy looking?

And don't I have a marvelous Sweetie?

Oh...and for those who are interested in that sort of thing...the antique books in the foreground are part of a very battered "mini" set of Shakespeare...the goblet is Early American Pressed Glass, from the late 1800s--the "stippled maidenhair fern" pattern; the bone china teacup and the tiny salt cellars (you can only see one in the photo) are antiques also--hand-painted, and also both have maidenhair ferns on them. (I collect things with maidenhair ferns.) And...that's half a chambered nautilus on the left; the tiny flowers on the left are one of my mini-orchids (reblooming for the first time!)...and the bust, although not an antique, is from a weekend trip my baby sister made to San Gimignano, Italy.

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Footnotes:
One of my favorite entries, in my all-time favorite blog - Creating Passionate Users. Prepare to be challenged by it!