Peonies are my favourite flower. I've been having a peony year - with my quilt Peony Pride, my endless sketchings of peonies and peonie sampler quilting and now, for my birthday, a breathtaking peony bouquet.
Peonies are perfection in a flower. And the perfume - it's just glorious. It's mild and fleeting, then collects intensity - I've been breathing the scent non stop for days and I can't get enough of it. It just reminds me of how difficult it is to bottle beautiful and natural scents.
Unfortunately, peonies only last a few fleeting days. When they crumpled, I couldnt part with them and the petals were still heavily scented, so I collected them in paper and they are still scenting everything beautifully. I definitely have to look into planting a poeny garden, even for a few days of flowering, I cant think of a nicer thing to enjoy in a garden.
This cake was almost too beautiful to cut, I love the chocolate leaves. The cake is a delicious walnut / chocolate layer cake.
This is the experiemental lemon layer cake. I think they girls enjoyed decorating it more than the cake itself.
The year has gone by so quickly, before I know it, it will be Christmas!
