BRIGHTENING UP A RAINY DAY
It was rainy and foggy as we packed up the buckets of flowers to head out to Hospice. We had beautiful flowers donated by Ray and Allen’s, and we worked them into some g
orgeous arrangements for all the patients to have. It was creativity at it’s finest……well, sort of. The beauty of it is that when the flowers are as bright and fresh as these were, it doesn’t take much to make a beautiful arrangement.
It was a Saturday so we got to be with the weekend staff. And of course we went for the photos. We love being at Hospice because everyone that works there is smiling just like Wakeena on the left and Michelle on the right.
JUST LIKE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Yes, it was a balmy 60 degrees out today as we strolled into Highland Farms. Well, actually we lumbered in with buckets of flowers, pruners, cups, trays and a broom. The flowers today 
came from The Fresh Market. Lots of beautiful roses, lilies, dahlias and more. We found two of our helpers, Helen and Rose. Freddie decided to watch us today and give her back a rest.
Jackie was our volunteer of the day, photogenic as always. Here she is with Rose, but to find out what her day is really like helping Second Bloom, click here.
As I was delivering the beautiful arrangements that Helen and Rose had made, I went into Joy’s room. She’s in the photo on the right, with her bright red 
sweater on. She loves the flowers we bring each week. Joy was on the phone with her 
daughter in San Diego, who happened to be talking about how beautiful the flowers are out there. She, of course, started telling her about Second Bloom and before you know it, I was giving her our website - and I hope she sees her mom. We like her a lot. And today, well, San Diego’s got nothing on Highland Farms……
At any rate, we had enough beautiful flowers to spread around to all the residents, some of the staff and every nursing station they have. Here’s Allen with his arrangement. He lights up whenever I knock on his door with fresh flowers.
WATER GIRL
We try to glorify the duties of our volunteers, but Jackie wants to tell you that someone needs to haul the buckets of water outside after the flowers have been used. And someone needs to knock on every door with the arrangements.
The surprising part is meeting whoever is behind the door you happen to be knocking on. Like Barbara, who is always ready with a smile and a willingness to chat a bit. Not to mention, she lets us take her picture - which definitely adds interest to our website.
To see who else we found behind closed doors at Highland Farms, click here.
MATCHING FLOWERS
We received a surprise call from St. Eugene Catholic Church today - they had flowers to donate! They were 
from one of our favorite florists, Clements Flower Shop, and they perfectly matched the colors of the containers at Liberty Oaks Assisted Living. The ladies came quickly as we arrived, the containers already filled with water, ready for flowers.
They all made beautiful arrangements. Here’s a photo on the right of Lisa and Nancy with Myrtle, Brenda, Peggy, Carolyn Jane and Jean. And on the left is Kim helping out Carolyn Jane while Jean assesses her arrangement. To the left, Lisa and Myrtle are watching to see if Peggy can find a way to balance that tall flower in the middle of her arrangement. Want to see if she succeeded? Just check out the group photo and the arrangement on the far left…….where there’s a will there’s a way.
THEN THERE WAS ONE….
Emily joined us today at Courtyard with flowers from The Fresh Market and from St. Eugene Catholic Church. We arrived to an activity room that was full of…yes, activity. So we walked in and added more activity, closing in on some vague tipping point into chaos. But we managed to avoid that and come out with almost 100 beautiful arrangements. Here’s Emily with a cart full of flowers, ready to head off to the rooms for delivery. She was calm and collected throughout - her steady presence keeping us from that tipping point. And her humor and genuine, open-hearted good nature a pleasure to be around.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
Yes, a day in the life of Second Bloom. We had four volunteers lined up, ready to snip and cut and arrange and deliver. But we didn’t have enough flowers for them. So we canceled. And then a surprise call from St. Eugene Catholic Church. They had flowers for us. So then we needed our volunteers….. But most of them had scattered and so we were only able to snag one of them. But if you have to have one volunteer, you couldn’t ask for a better one than Emily. She walked in, found a chair and started prepping the flowers for everyone.
We brought flowers from Fresh Market and St. Eugenes to Courtyard Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. There were two tables filled with residents ready to help us - barely enough room for us to maneuver around. But we managed without too much chaos. Lula and Ralph were two of our 
new participants and they were quite good. Check out Ralph’s bouquet and look at all that Lula made!
Now, if you’re someone who checks up on us each time we come to Courtyard, you might think we’ve been a bit remiss not including two of our favorite resident experts, Vernelle and Nanette. Yes, they help us each time we 
come. We’ve not included a lot of photos lately because for the first several months we bloomed at Courtyard, they were our only stars. Scroll down through the pages and you’ll see many, many photos of these two dear ladies. We definitely consider them the heart of our Courtyard blooming, with their beautiful arrangements and their obvious delight in working with the flowers.
MCCUNE MAGIC
Yes, it was once again a magical day at The McCune Center. The magic was the amount of flowers and the height of flowers that these ladies were able to put in our little cups. Today Joyce won the category of ‘abundance’ and Louise won the category of ‘height’. The flowers came from The Fresh Market and from Morris Funeral Home. Beautiful fresh flowers that we picked up from The Country Club of Asheville. Lots of carnations, daisies, lilies, baby’s breath and some roses. Very, very colorful…..just look at our cart! And that’s Judy and Joyce behind it with Leigh and Louise. And yes, that’s Lisa keeping the cups full of water - one of the 
things we do best….
We had enough flowers to put a small arrangement on each table in the dining room, which is where everyone was by the time we started wheeling our cart around. Here’s a photo of Henry and Elaina with their table arrangement. With 18 tables in the dining area and flowers on every one of them, it looked quite festive.
SATURDAY SENSATIONS
The arrangements that Rita, Betty and Sarah made today were sensational! They had beautiful flowers to work with from a service that Morris Funeral Home held. The flowers were fresh, colorful and abundant. Here’s a photo of Sarah on the right looking over the flowers, picking out just the right one for her arrangement. And Betty was choosing flowers, mixing up the colors, cutting them all to just 
the height that she wanted. Betty was practicing being nice today and she was doing a great job of it. She said it’s easy to be nice when she’s not frustrated. Betty likes doing the flowers and it was apparent - the only thing that took her away for a few minutes was the opportunity to have a cigarette…..
Here’s a photo of Rita, Betty and Sarah behind the cart of arrangements that 
they made. Lots of activity today as many residents came in to talk or to pick out a bouquet for their room. Here’s a great photo of smiling Tom with the one that he chose. Tom (Tam?) always greets us with a wave, a smile and a laugh.
It was good to be with all of our Shadybrook friends again on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
SPICY VOLUNTEERS
Spicy volunteers? Is that how to indicate that the three volunteers we had help us today are ‘well seasoned’? I don’t know, but Judy, Emily and Lizzee have all helped us numerous times at various facilities. They are naturals and a lot of fun.
Lizzee’s volunteered so much that she says she’s reached her photo quota. But in case you haven’t been reading our website, I’ve got to include at least one photo of her here. Lizzee’s in the photo to the right, Judy’s on the left. Now Judy probably won’t be thrilled with that photo of her, but I included it here because I was so impressed with her dexterity and confidence - 
joking around while carrying a pair of shears and a cup full of water and flowers! For a more flattering photo of Judy, and to find out what our morning was like, click here. Or scroll down through our volunteer page to find more photos of these wonderful women helping out Second Bloom!
All these colorful flowers from The Fresh Market were made into 100 bouquets for all the residents at The Laurels of GreenTree Ridge to have in their rooms. Emily and I wheeled that beautiful cart around to every room, handing out our bouquets and talking to everyone we met. Here’s a photo of Ruth receiving her arrangement from Emily.
BRIGHT AND COLORFUL
With a Prius stuffed full with 8 buckets of flowers from The Fresh Market, we headed off to the Laurels of GreenTree Ridge. We met up with our 3 trusty 
volunteers and did what we do so well - make little arrangements for everyone to enjoy! Look at how beautiful and bright those bouquets are! And that’s Judy who’s ready to place the final bouquet on our cart.
Mamie was in watching us all morning and she picked out this bouquet that Judy had made to have in her room. Emily and I 
delivered the other 99 arrangements to everyone. We timed it perfectly so that when we got back to the main room, everything was cleaned up and ready to go. Below is a photo of Emily with Warren. Want to know who else volunteered with us today? To find out, you’ll have to click here for more photos.
We’ve been coming into The Laurels, bringing flowers, adding color and smiles to their environment for months now. We simply show up and ‘do what we do’. And every once in awhile we hear a great story…..like someone who knows someone there that gets the flowers and loves them! We always know they are appreciated but it’s very fun to hear it come around at us from a totally unexpected direction!
SO MANY FLOWERS…
We had a lot of flowers that we brought in to Highland Farms Retirement Community today. A couple of the ladies who always help us, weren’t available. But Helen was ready to go and she’s quite a pro. And being a pro, she doesn’t really like 
cutting the flowers as short as we need to get them into our little cups. So we’re run around finding larger vases for her to work with. This keeps her very happy, as you can see in the photo on the right. And without a doubt, she does have a great eye!
Thankfully Emily and Judy, our volunteers, were willing to cut those flowers short enough. So after a bit of time, all 88 cups were filled and being wheeled down the hall. Here’s Emily with her wonderful smile pushing the cart down to folks like Tommy, who we’ve been visiting every week with flowers. He’s always happy to see us. And below is a photo of 
Dorothy holding up her beautiful arrangement full of beautiful roses. So where’s a picture of Judy?
So where did we get them? Well, today we had flowers from The Fresh Market and from Clements Flower Shop. John at Clements called in the morning a
nd we went right over. Amid much laughter we gathered several buckets of stunning roses, baby’s breath, mums - gorgeous flowers. And we finally got a great photo of everyone. Well, everyone that was there at 8:30 in the morning…..that would be Richard, Holly, Sandy and John.
BLOOMING ACTIVITY GALORE
Yes, we had a lot of flowers and a lot of blooming activity. Three volunteers helped the morning move right along. Pat, Peggy and Melinda joined Second Bloom today at Courtyard. Peggy’s here on the left. Pauline, a resident at Courtyard, was ready to go before we arrived, waiting almost patiently. She made bouquet upon bouquet and was pretty spent by the time we wheeled our carts down the halls. But she had a fabulous time!
At first I wasn’t sure we’d have enough flowers, so we were doing ‘light and airy’ arrangements, but the last 25 cups were stuffed to the gills. I only heard delight as we delivered the arrangements to the residents. 
True, most people had gone to lunch, but I knew they would be delighted when they returned to their rooms and saw the bright bouquets. We did find Octavia getting ready to go to lunch and got a great photo of her with Melinda and Pat. We had so many flowers that we made arrangements for the main dining hall and for a lot of the staff as well. Where did all these flowers come from?
Well, we got great donations of flowers from Clements Flower Shop and from The Fresh Market. Beautiful post Valentine’s Day flowers. There were deep reds, pinks, whites and yellows. Absolutely beautiful. When you work with such fabulous flowers, your arrangements will always look beautiful. Not that we don’t have talent…..because we do……….but the flowers definitely help. It can be a bit daunting to look at 6 big buckets of flowers for the first time, wondering how we’re going to get from that to 120 bouquets in small, rather tiny cups. But it always seems to work out. And once we get going, everyone joins in. Even I’ve learned a thing or two.
Recognize who that is behind the flowers? Recognize the nice fingernail polish? And don’t stop now - see more photos of our volunteers.
OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE GROWING
It was a banner volunteer day for Second Bloom. We had five, yes five! volunteers. More than ever before. Unheard of. Amazing and miraculous. Fabuloso. So many volunteers that we had to spread out to two facilities. Pat, Peggy and Melinda were at Courtyard. Pat’s in the upper left photo, Melinda on the right and Peggy below. It was 
Peggy and Pat’s first time with us but they seemed to fit right in and have a good time.
Over at Highland Farms, Emily and Judy were putting out beautiful 
arrangements like the one that Judy’s giving to Michelle, one of the staff. Judy 
has her own business, Your Vase or Mine, during the growing season. Beautiful gardens at her East Asheville home. In fact, she’s generously offered to host a fundraiser for Second Bloom on Tuesday, June 30 -details will be following as it gets closer.
I know I say this a lot….but do you notice the smiles on our volunteers? This happiness is contagious - the effect to all those we give flowers to is real and noticeable! Hats off, once again, to our volunteers!
DRESSING FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
It didn’t escape my attention that both Judy and Melinda wore red on Valentine’s Day. Why not? What better day? They both volunteered their time, their heart and their talent to create arrangements for all the patients at The Care Partners Solace Center. Judy’s pictured on the right and Melinda on the left.
We had some beautiful flowers from Fresh Market in Hendersonville that Jackie picked up for us. And let’s not forget to give three cheers for Fresh Market’s generosity! They donate every week and provide flowers for many of our homes. We wouldn’t be bringing such joy to folks if it weren’t for them.
But back to our volunteers, because that’s what this page is about. We were very grateful to Melinda and Judy for coming out on a Saturday afternoon to help. We had been at the Laurels of GreenTree Ridge in the morning, so having more help in the afternoon was very welcome. To have talented help like they provided was even better! See some more photos from their afternoon.
VALENTINE’S DAY AT THE SOLACE CENTER
Here’s a photo of our creative volunteers, Melinda and Judy, in the midst of making arrangements for all the patients at Hospice. We had plenty of flowers, barely enough vases, but look at what they created! Incredible talent! All these flowers came from The Fresh Market. And sometimes nice to not have 100 arrangements to make. It allows for a more relaxed creative endeavor.
And that’s what this Valentine’s Day afternoon was for our volunteers. Turns out that Judy and Melinda actually knew each other a bit and became better acquainted as they sifted through the flowers.
A lot of families were visiting The Care Partners Solace Center today and they enjoyed both the conversation and the flowers. The flowers are so appreciated and provide such pleasure to the families and the patients. They truly lift everyone’s spirit.
VALENTINE SURPRISE
The six women living at Liberty Oaks got another round of flowers today. It was special for them because it was Valentine’s Day and they had a beautiful assortment of flowers to work with. Look at the great arrangements they made. In the picture to the left is Delois, Jean, Carolyn Jane, Vivian (who works on the weekends) and Peggy. Below is Peggy and Brenda, right in the middle of their creative endeavor.
These flowers came from a service at Ray and Allen’s. This was their first time donating to Second Bloom. There were roses, daisies, mums, sweet pink wax flowers and interesting greens. As they love to say at the Biltmore Estate, these flowers were ‘repurposed’.
We didn’t know how our supply of flowers was going to make it through all of our stops scheduled for Valentine’s Day. But we were happy we had enough flowers for Liberty Oaks. By the time I arrived several of the women were taking naps. But when they heard that Second Bloom was here with flowers, they came running, figuratively 
speaking that is. Some of the ladies liked to keep their arrangements short, but Carolyn Jane liked putting them in her cup as they came to her. So she ended up with a tall, sprawling amount of flowers as her beautiful arrangement. We had so many flowers that the ladies got to make arrangements for their table and for some of the staff that live there. Look at the flowers in front of Myrtle and Peggy! They all had a ball!
HANDS-ON VALENTINE’S DAY
Hands-On Asheville, a non-profit that organizes volunteers, found us four and a half great volunteers for Valentine’s Day at the Laurels of GreenTree Ridge. Here’s a great photo of Lisa (in blue) standing with Melody, Niki and Ali and her son Avery. Seated in front amid the flowers is Marjorie, who helps us each
time we come. And seated in the back in red is Esau, who was overseeing what we were up to. This photo was taken while Sarah, on the left was driving up and down Sweeten Creek Road looking for us. But she found us in plenty of time to help make over 100 bouquets to brighten up the rooms of all the residents. These women all had talent and we paid some attention so we could pick up some pointers and pass them along to our next volunteers.
Our flowers today came from The Fresh Market, both in Hendersonville and Asheville. We held them over in the coldest room in my house and they did quite well. Check out Second Bloom’s cooler. Since we never know when we’re getting flowers or how many we’re going to get, it was great to have such an abundance for our volunteers to work with. A great assortment of size, colors and textures. The arrangements were beautiful.
Avery, Ali’s son and our youngest volunteer yet at age 5, made several bouquets but he seemed to like handing them out best. Everyone loved seeing him come into their room, wishing them a Happy Valentine’s Day and leaving flowers. He usually didn’t stay long because he was on a mission to get flowers into every room, but his gift was easily seen in the smiles he left on the residents’ faces. Here Ali and Avery are with Lloyd. Those flowers added some wonderful color to his room!
But Avery wasn’t the only one visiting the residents and wishing them Happy Valentine’s Day. Here’s Niki giving Oma a beautiful bouquet. She was delighted to have flowers again. While Avery, Ali and Niki were wheeling their cart of flowers down one hallway, Sarah and Melody were bringing their gifts to residents on another hallway. To the right is Melody with 
Charles and on the left is Sarah with Priscilla and Francis.
All of our volunteers showed up today with open hearts, smiles and a genuine willingness to engage with people. You can see that in all of these photos. Look at some of the others pics we took today.
OUR FABULOUS FOUR AND A HALF
Yes, we had four and a half volunteers today. The half being Avery, five years old. However, if you walked into the residents’ room with Avery, he definitely stole the show - so his impact was definitely greater than one half. Here he is with Marjorie, a resident who also helped us make the arrangements.
This was our first experience with Hands-On Asheville and we loved the volunteers they found for us! Very easy going, talented with flowers and ready to engage with whoever they met. Above on the left is Melody and Niki. Group photo is Sarah, Melody, Niki and Ali. Above on the right is Sarah, working with a smile on her face - don’t you love that? And below on the left is Ali, having a brief conversation with one of our gorgeous spider mums from Fresh Market.
We got our volunteers right to work filling the table with flowers, the cup with waters and handing shears to everyone. Before long the cart was filled with beautiful arrangements ready to take to the residents for a Valentine’s Day 
treat. Of course, Second Bloom doesn’t need a special occasion to give out flowers. We do it any day of the week, at a moment’s notice. Look at some more great photos from our day at the Laurels.
It took us till the very end of our morning to figure out exactly what to do with those banana leaves - fortunately Niki saw what they were supposed to be!
FAMILIAR FACES BLOOMING
Joan, Alan and Emily all live in Black Mountain and joined us today at The McCune Center. The smiles on their faces and their good hearted natures go a long way towards brightening up the lives of the residents. The flowers didn’t hurt any in this regard either. Quite a crowd gathered today to make bouquets for the residents, staff and dining room tables. And one large bouquet for their Valentine’s Dance this afternoon, complete with a bit of karaoke! But Second Bloom was gone long before that began.
Joan was one of our very first volunteers who helped us ’stream-line’ our process….so we no longer wear out our volunteers like we wore her out the first time. And Alan’s back from the Key West Literary Seminar that he helps organize. And Emily, who has become a delightful regular with Second Bloom, is here with her great smiling face! Check out the fun they brought to everyone at McCune.
FLYING FLOWERS
McCune was hoping for flowers for Valentine’s Day and we were happy to satisfy their hopes. Not all that hard to do, thanks to Black Mountain Floral Center and Earth Fare. Boots, at Black Mountain Floral, pulled some flowers out of her cooler and she also got several buckets for us from her wholesale delivery! She’s been great at doing that.
With three volunteers: Emily, Joan and Alan, the work/play went quickly. Flowers were flying out of their wrappers and quick as could be, they were in the cups and ready for delivery! Click here to see some more photos of our volunteers in action. It was quite a crowd in the solarium - about eight residents came out to make small arrangements. Deneise was also here and look at her happy face with Wanda and Elaine (upper left photo). Joan and Alan are dressing up the tables in the dining halls while Emily was handing out the beautiful arrangements. Also here is a photo of Alan with Michael. Michael likes to play the piano and he also works at Ingles, you may recognize him from there.
Beautiful flowers, open hearted volunteeers, happy residents! All in a day’s blooming.