This week saw rather a big wedding anniversary; nothing with a round number, but sobering all the same: my husband and I met when we were just 19 and have now been married as long (with a few extra years packed in between).

I have little or no wisdom to impart on the longevity of relationships, but with the substantial benefit of hindsight I’d heartily recommend this time of year for a wedding. You can guarantee that the garden/window-box/local park will be at its most bountiful and optimistic for each subsequent anniversary, and you may even be lucky enough to give/receive a home-grown rose as a gift. This might seem cheap (I’d say “thrifty”) but life is messy and cluttered; someone or other is bound to forget now and again, and a rose in the hand is worth two in the filling station.

This sampler was stitched by my mother, probably in the 1940s, most certainly in Pennsylvania. Alas, she’s no longer with us, so I can’t verify precisely when she put needle to fabric. The cheery spirit of it always brings her happily to mind and makes me smile. I love the perky attitudes of the characters, conveyed with wonderful economy in the restrictive cross-stitch format.  I’m guessing that it was designed to look rather older, judging by the nineteenth century dress of the couple (his hat and stick/sword, her coy fan). This was, after all, the era of Gone with the Wind‘s Civil War nostalgia; imagine an older Scarlett & Rhett who still do give a damn. Do click onto my Flickr photostream to see the rest of the sampler with its quaint and cheery message.

A charming detail from my mother's sampler