A new book on bringing nature’s beauty into the home is a delight for the soul and senses.
A new book on bringing nature’s beauty into the home is a delight for the soul and senses.
O ne of the sorrows of growing up is that, while you should never lose your childlike sense of wonder and fun, some activities just aren’t possible anymore. For years, one of my favorite pastimes was making fairy dolls and houses in the backyard, changing their habitats and clothing based on the season. Spring saw fairy beds made of lamb’s ear, summer brought pink dresses of campanula, and fall inspired headdresses fashioned from asters. This childhood joy came to mind while reading Emily Malloy’s new book, Arranging the Seasons, which is the fourth offering in the Theology of Home series.
The book is a joy to read, from the straightforward text layout to the well-placed images. Even just browsing through to look at the pictures can prompt readers to go look up the various flowers that are mentioned. Malloy organizes the book well, breaking it down by season, then by month. She then follows a pattern for nearly each month, starting with a short reflection and ending with a design section. This pairing of the philosophical and the practical gives readers a chance to ponder the “why” of flowers or muse about the quirks of different months, while also learning the best way to construct, say, a boutonniere.
Her practical tips don’t stop with the boutonniere, though. We learn how to construct a bouquet for a hostess gift, what kinds of tools the would-be arranger should stock up on, and why you should strip off any leaves below the waterline in a vase. The step-by-step pictures she includes for some of these tips are useful. The practical gives way to the historical, and readers are treated to insights on flower names, medieval artwork, and more.
It’s easy to be utilitarian about so many areas of our lives, and some number of us might brush off cut flowers as a waste of money. Malloy skillfully meets this challenge, showing readers how this seemingly simple decorating choice can bring so much meaning to our homes. In her reflection on the month of July, she writes:
Much of what we create lasts for a moment: a lovely meal, the perfect hairstyle, a clean kitchen. It is what happens in that moment of enjoyment that counts. The meal ends, the arrangements wilts, and still we create anew. Beauty is never a waste.
“Beauty is never a waste.” How strongly did this quote remind me of a recent experience! Family friends had invited me and my mom over for a small gathering, and they’d spent the day cleaning their home and preparing food. Besides the wonderful conversation and community that night, the detail that struck me most involved some candles on the mantle. There were tapers, really lovely ones, studded with dried ferns and flowers — the kind I would display and never burn. But here I was, contemplating these tapers, which had been lit for me, and which were adding to the deep feeling of comfort and security I felt that night. Beauty truly is never a waste.
That particular quote comes near the middle of the book, but right from the start, Malloy stresses the idea that flowers in the home are a way of cultivating an appreciation for beauty, saying, “As we permit flowers to be a part of daily life, we can contemplatively reside within our homes and pause — even if just for a moment — at the sight of beauty.”
These types of décor books, Malloy says at one point, often begin with spring, for that is when we often think of flowers. For her book, however, Malloy begins with winter, “a time of texture.” But she doesn’t start at Christmas; no, she begins in January, a time when it’s easy to miss signs of life and often hard to appreciate the cold beauty that may surround us. Christmas closes out the book, wrapping it all up with a cozy feeling and driving home the cyclical nature of the seasons.
The book’s text pulls heavily from numerous authors and saints, showing the connection of flowers and nature to the Catholic Church’s traditions and their importance in the culture at large. Scattered throughout are well-chosen quotes from a cast as diverse as L. M. Montgomery and Geoffrey Chaucer, and Malloy draws upon the words of various Church fathers and philosophers as the foundation for her own ideas.
While the book has a philosophical bent, it is never heady or dense. It lays before readers a treasure trove of reflections on the wonders of creation, inviting us to ponder where we wish and move on when we need to. There are personal anecdotes, but they are balanced well with the rest of the content and thoughtfully placed throughout the book. All of the well-shot pictures are carefully placed, too, and I particularly loved the whimsical nature of many of the floral arrangements (especially the funny brass duck hidden amid fall foliage on page 237).
This book is a gentle reminder not just to stop and smell the roses but to bring them into your home and contemplate them.