Poppy Ramblings …

Good Morning poppy friends …

This morning we passed the 17,000 mark on our poppy journey …  with 1,200 poppies safely arriving during the week … that’s a mammoth effort …. it seems like only yesterday we were getting excited about receiving 10 in the mail.  On Anzac Day 2014 we were standing at 12,500 … and now we are at over 17,000, and Marg and I are becoming more and more excited every day about the visual extravaganza we are creating for those we want to honour … quite simply the response has been astounding.

We have many many letters and notes of thanks from people for the opportunity to be involved in such a wonderful project … and while we know that it just takes a spark to ignite a flame … it takes a lot of fuel to keep the fire burning … and that’s what it feels like to us.

How gorgeous is this display for Anzac Day (I wish I could tell you who contributed the photo but I didn’t mark it :()

On another matter, I had a distressed note from a lady this week who is a keen contributor and has been working hard at trying to get a movement happening in her home town … She has found that while she has been distributing our patterns widely … and encouraging people to be involved in the bigger project … there are some who would prefer to keep their poppies closer to home as a local tribute.  Marg and I are thrilled that the project has captured the imagination of so many … in so many places.  And, it’s heartening to us see the project being taken up as a local project … there are many groups all over Australia making poppies for the project and displaying them locally this November for Remembrance Day and then sending them down to us so that they can be part of the bigger project … and we think this is wonderful.  There are also a few groups making and displaying their poppies locally for Anzac Day next year … we also think this is a wonderful thing.  There will be handmade poppy wreaths made and laid … and there are many pictures on the facebook page of people who are taking their poppies with them on international sojourns and laying them in places I have never been, in honour of those heroes that this tribute is all about … all sparked by the involvement in the 5000 Poppies Project.  Thank you!!!  We do ask if you are making and displaying locally, that you acknowledge the bigger project as well … that helps to drive the message to more and more people.   We are SO incredibly humbled by the movement that has sprung up … and it truly is wonderful way of being an integral part of something really huge … while still keeping it very personal.

On another note again … I see that the New Zealand group have accumulated more than 3,000 poppies on their way to their goal of 5,000 (and still with 10 months to go) and have also managed to secure a place to display their collection … excellent Lisa … I know you and your team are working hard … I can’t wait to see the outcome.

With much love and grateful blessings … Lynn and Marg.