While organizing stacks of old cherished magazines, a magazine fell out of the pile. It turned out to be the premiere  issue (April 2000)  of Real Simple Magazine. Elegantly grainy with  its pages now beginning to smell beautifully nostalgic like my grandmother's Life magazines of yore, I enjoyed a moment to savor some of the almost 10 year old articles that defined, if not evoked the longing to go back to simpler, more meaningful rituals. 

Natural Beauties on  page 122  contemplate the soul nourishing aspect of arranging a singular peony or poppy on an old apothecary bottle and the mind quieting effect of arranging green chrysanthemums or broccoli blossoms on glazed stoneware teacups.