Peace Lilies

I feel like being quiet today, and inside. Dull light as the snow has turned to rain and we are nearing the Winter Solstice, and the shortest day.

I have been trying out different options with the camera, inspired by a sudden call-out last night to photograph a friend of Helena, who was having a book-signing at the Children's Bookshop. It was Goodwill Evening in Stroud, which brought a party atmosphere to the streets and shops. Parades of children singing carols, garish fairground attractions, street stalls of local food producers. It is a pity I couldn't have blipped then. Using the lowlight was challenging which made me try out a variety of settings, most of them new to me!

So this is Effie in 'Her mother's hat', circa 1965. We became friends about two years later. I found this on eBay earlier this year and snapped it up.

In front of her is one of the two Peace Lilies I have been nurturing. I thought they were both the same, until I re-potted them, after which one more than doubled in size within months. Apparently there are both small and large-leaved species. I have watched these two massive flowers growing ever so slowly, waiting for the amazing petals to unfurl, revealing their strange knobbly stamens. Apparently, a Peace Lily is a common gift to people at funerals and memorials, so it seems another suitable image for now.

Effie looks down at them every day too.

PS I hope I can get a better image of them one day, when I have been back to picture school.