Ikebana for Shofuso Japanese House and Garden

August is the month for MainLine Study Branch members to have the chance to create Ikebana arrangements; to display in certain areas in this beautiful and authentic Japanese house, located in Fairmont Park, PA. Fellowed by BuxMount Study Group, they had done it in July.

I volunteered to do 4 arrangements for the 3rd weekend of August 18 to 20th. Using their containers, I just brought my flower materials and arranged there. Their staff would take care of the rest until next weekend and then whoever is responsible would replace my arrangements with fresh arrangements.

Entrance to inside the house 

Tatami room, window alcove 

Pass this small alcove to get into the tea room 

Tea room, chabana

The Last Day of Our Vacation (4) - The Arrangements

It was our last day of the trip. I was relaxing by the pool side, thinking about making some arrangements before we headed home. Looking around, I eyed the palm leaves and thought I must use it in my arrangement, because there are none in my hometown USA. Then I found some containers inside the house that I used.  (7/28/2023)

I found a brass container on the book shelves  

Not much for flower choices 

I used a bamboo lantern for container 

Grandparents and grandchildren 

Painting “day dreamer “

Family Vacation (3) - Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is one of the most famous Catholic Churches, still under construction after over 140 years in Barcelona, Spain. Architect was Antoni Gaudi (1852- 1926), who is also famous for other architectural works, Casa Batllo, in Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia will finally be completed in2026. 

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Family Vacation (2)- Barcelona touring

For our family vacation, we stayed in a town outside Barcelona called Sant Andreu de Llavaneres (a municipality located 36 km north of Barcelona, along the Mediterranean coast). It’s in Barcelona province. From our home base, we drove three cars to Sant Andreu to Barcelona and toured different sites. In Barcelona, we took the kids to the science museum, saw the Gaudi sites, took a boat ride, and did lots of walking. We also took day trips to Montserrat to see the monastery on the mountain top and to Girona, where we saw the historic cathedral and another monastery that had been turned into a museum. We were a caravan of fourteen people traveling! This is our second trip to Barcelona for my husband and me so we didn't feel too much pressure to tour. The pictures below are a mix from our trip: 7/23 -7/24/2023.

Children’s science museum entrance

Waiting for boat ride

Our youngest grandsons

Family Reunion Vacation (1)- Spain

Our joyful, meaningful and fun family vacation had passed in a flash! Eight days, fourteen people, three generations under one roof. In and out from our home base of Villa Valentina, Sant Andreu Llavaneres to Barcelona almost every day. The House is a five hundred year old historical villa with six bedrooms and seven restrooms. If we were not going out sightseeing, there were a lot of activities at home such as swimming, playing ping pong and billiards. One afternoon we had a ping pong tournament, I beat my 12 years old grandson accidentally!😲

Our home base

You can see the Mediterranean ocean far away