Carefree flowers

I love this little vase of felt flowers - and I love the two additional blooms added by my grandsons with their photos on the heads and messages written on the leaves. I'll stop going on about my birthday soon, I promise - but seeing these on my table makes me smile and think of the grandchildren I don't see often enough.

I often wonder how it would be to have all four grandchildren living just round the corner: would seeing them become routine, expected? Would the intensity of the experience be diminished by familiarity? 

The flowers, by the way, were made by women in India. And getting the vase home in my rucksack was interesting as I prepared to be savage at anyone who bashed it. I do wish I could have brought a balloon on the plane as well ...