Definitely foraged.
To be honest, I don't know what any one of these bits of dried material is, except that the stem with the elegantly curved leaf looks rather like a pin oak (Quercus palustris). Everything was cut from the bare winter twigs at the southeast corner of our new property, where there is a little thicket and, just below it, the roadside ditch.
The berries are quite intriguing, dry drupes now mostly blackened, presumably by the cold. Our realtor gave me the common name when we looked at the property, but I promptly forgot it. There were so many other things to think about! They - the berries, that is - grow on vines clambering over the partially derelict barbed wire on the west side of the yard.
The pot is one I made for my sister a couple of years ago. Not a vase, except by present use, it was designed as a seed pot especially for her carefully harvested nasturtium seeds, selected for color and vigor. It fits neatly into the hand but still holds plenty of seeds. I believe her most recent batch is still in the bottom of the pot. I managed to grab it and slip it into the truck bed as I left our house in Arizona - one salvage job among many. (We came near to losing a great deal of what we owned and even much of what we had made with our own hands. For a brief timeline of the past two months, please see my last post.) At one point we had to collect spilled seeds from all over the bottom of the bed liner, but back they went into the pot, which, thankfully, remained intact through thick and thin and a couple of rides on a tow truck. When she suggested I use it for today's vase, I thought it just the thing for dried material. I like the way the small mouth holds the stems and twigs...
Well, I am finally back to posting for In a Vase on Monday - thanks to the ever-inspiring Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. Do check her post for many more links to winter (and perhaps summer) vases!
Weather Diary: The weather is doing its best in terms of variety. In the wee hours of this morning, temperatures were up to 61 F/16 C, and now they are down to 25 F/-4 C, which is the forecast low. And tomorrow may see freezing drizzle, 'then drizzle likely'. Ha!
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Cathy (Tuesday, 05 February 2019 06:56)
I am glad you were able to retrieve at least some of your possessions and hope that nothing too precious has had to be left behind, although being able to leave must have been the greatest joy ever - what a huge step it has been and with such ramifications. I love the idea of a 'seed pot' and this receptacle is typically 'you'. The unknown nature of the contents reflects the unknown nature of your new life - but I am sure you and your sister will blossom from the husks that you have been forced to be for so long. Onwards and upwards!
Christina (Tuesday, 05 February 2019 07:26)
Fascinating 'vase', I'm just going to check on your story.
Kris P (Tuesday, 05 February 2019 12:26)
It's great to find you returning to the old routines that gave you joy, Amy. My best wishes to you and your sister as you begin this new chapter of your lives.
Cathy (Tuesday, 05 February 2019 13:21)
I missed your last post, so am going back to catch up. :)
Diana Studer (Wednesday, 06 February 2019 16:26)
Discovering and making your new garden will be exciting.
Does your new home have creative spaces for you and your sister?
Amy@SmallSunnyGarden (Thursday, 07 February 2019 17:18)
Cathy@Rambling in the Garden - We were able to get almost all the important stuff out with us, thankfully. (I lost one major still life painting I created seven years ago - still sad about that.) But it's certainly upward and onward, and learning to enjoy the new place with its various growing things, though these are all fully enclosed in a coating of ice at the moment! I hope to make plenty more seed pots, as they have had a humble but extremely useful role over the millennia! Thank you kindly! :)
Amy@SmallSunnyGarden (Thursday, 07 February 2019 17:29)
Christina - So glad you like the seed pot. As a 'vase' it is only really suitable for dried material, since it is unglazed red clay just like a flower pot, so I thought this was a good time to use it. ;-)
Amy@SmallSunnyGarden (Thursday, 07 February 2019 17:33)
Kris - Yes, it feels good to get back to it all! Though I am not quite up to speed yet, am I? ;-) Thanks so much!
Amy@SmallSunnyGarden (Thursday, 07 February 2019 17:34)
Cathy@Words and Herbs - Thanks, Cathy - I'll be back to the previous post shortly! ;-)
Amy@SmallSunnyGarden (Thursday, 07 February 2019 17:42)
Diana - It will require some ingenuity in arranging things, but, yes, there will be room to create! We are both used to fitting our work alongside of the rest of daily life; and we have a space off the kitchen that I am appropriating for the potter's wheel - easily the most unavoidably messy job!