Simple Beauty

At the farmer's market last weekend there were some amazing flower arrangements. Artfully crafted and whimsical. Using local items, appealing to the locavore, upscale shopper. The type of thing you would see in a Martha Stewart magazine and which would cost more than might easily be justified for something so transitory as flowers. I just about passed them by, justifying my action as logical because, certainly they wouldn't last.

Fortunately I was corrected. Not only would they last because they were made with that in mind, but they also represented the best of why I left the city. The person who made them had consciously priced them to reflect the reality of her life, not what the market could "bear." They were not only beautiful, but affordable. The base was perfectly good cabbage that had been burned during the recent hot spell and so couldn't be sold to picky consumers (despite the fact that if the burned leaves were peeled off they were fine). So they were virtually nothing and saved from the compost pile. The arrangements were from the fields and yards nearby. Nothing exotic. Just simple beauty made from what is available.

Now that's a perfect example of the wabi sabi life I love!