Surviving Winter

Winter is a difficult season for me. I don't like the cold.... it hurts my hands and makes my nose run. My asthma acts up and I seem to spend the entire season with a cough and a head cold. Winter is not just uncomfortable for me -- it's downright painful. Being a gardener I complain all winter long about how miserable I am (poor Andy he puts up with this day after day so patiently) and how I long for the frozen earth to become soft again so that some sign of life will show itself. Although I love where I live, it's winter that makes me yearn for a home in a warmer climate where gardening is a year-round activity.

Now if I were rich I could have one of these....



What you see above is the huge indoor courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston, Massachusetts. While this courtyard is part of a museum, it was also once part of the home of Isabella Stewart Gardner.



Isabella Stewart was born in New York City on April 14, 1840. She married John ("Jack") Lowell Gardner Jr. of Boston on April 10, 1860. Isabella Stewart Gardner had a zest for life, an energetic intellectual curiosity and a love of travel. Isabella Stewart Gardner, known also as "Mrs. Jack" in reference to her husband, was one of the foremost female patrons of the arts. She was a patron and friend of leading artists and writers of her time, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler and Henry James. She was a supporter of community social services and cultural enrichment. She was also the visionary creator of what remains one of the most remarkable and intimate collections of art in the world today.

The Gardner Museum and home is a warm bright spot all year round, but especially in winter where the lush greenery of the courtyard provides a welcome respite from the cold streets of Boston.




Looking at this courtyard I can imagine that if I were rich enough to afford such a luxury I could easily survive winter in New England. How grand would it be to escape to such a lovely place and be transported away from the frigid air just outside its doors? Gardening all winter long as birds fly by and others chirping in the palm trees would be pure heaven... *sigh* to dream.




As I look out my window and see nothing but frozen ground and many feet snow... the garden beds not even visible, but sleeping beneath a blanket of white... I dream of spring and of warmer times ahead. The indoor bulbs are blooming, the seeds catalogues are being dog-eared, and soon I'll be watching my indoor sprouts grow. But for now the warmth of our fireplace and cuddling up with my love and our little Ellie will provide me with much comfort and joy.

Welcoming in the New Year

I hope the New Year finds you well and rested from the holiday season. I took a bit of a blogging break to spend time with my family and celebrate the season. It was a fun and exhausting time of year and I'm more than ready to get things back to normal.

The tree is still up - we keep it up until the Epiphany on January 6th. At this point, I'm ready to take it down, but dreading the task of un-decorating the house.

The seed magazines are starting to slowly come in and soon I'll begin prepping for indoor seed sowing. In the meantime, the amaryllis are blooming and providing a much needed bit of winter color.



It's amazing how these two amaryllis are so different. The one on the right is called "Red Lion" and has since bloomed with 3 bright red trumpet-like flowers. The one on the left I'm unsure of the name, but now has 5 blooms on it. They were both purchased at Lowes - real cheap. I'm thrilled with the results.

The paperwhites have not yet been potted up but will be soon. I always enjoy the sweet scent they bring when their blooms burst open. It's the smell of spring lurking right around the corner.

I'm also reviewing my garden and deciding what I'll plant in the vegetable raised beds as well as what needs to be divided, moved, ripped up, or planted in the perennial beds. Soon I'll share those plans with you - when I figure out what the heck I'm doing.... If I can ever figure it out that is!

A Blizzard and a Birthday

A blizzard hit us in southeastern Massachusetts last night through today. It was my birthday yesterday so some of my birthday plans got curtailed. Andy was going to take me to the Newport mansions to see the decorations and holiday carolers, but the snow prevented us from going. We had dinner at a nice restaurant nearby and then watched my new favorite movie "Julie and Julia."



Last night the snow was really coming down and the wind was whipping around like crazy. Ellie poked her nose out for a sniff.



She didn't want to go outside, but Mother Nature was calling so she donned her bright orange coat and we shoveled a little path for her.



The snow at night was beautiful to see.



You can really see the blizzard conditions in this photo. This was just the start of the storm so the snow wasn't that high yet.



The next morning we awoke to this....






The view outside my kitchen window.





The first thing I did when got up and outside was to fill the bird feeders (notice I wasn't even dressed yet... I still have on my black velour pajama bottoms).



The birds enjoying the feast.






Morning doves huddled in a tree.



A blue jay hiding in a bush.


When the storm was finally over we ended up with almost 2 feet of snow. Now the fun begins.... digging out! We'll definitely have a white Christmas.

A Little Bit of Christmas Everywhere

As promised here's a few more pictures of my Christmas decorations.

My little Christmas village.... Ignore the wrinkled curtains - apparently I forgot to iron them. =0





Here's the centerpiece on my coffee table (aqua wicker trunk). I took a few items that I've had around the house - nothing was bought new - and made a sparkly centerpiece. This is just a round tray filled with a few glass marbles and then topped off with a glass mosaic bowl filled with some scented red bark, red Christmas balls, and a white pillar candle.


My sofa table is simply decorated in red, white, and silver.



My baker's rake in the kitchen get's festive with some colored lights.


The centerpiece on my kitchen island was also put together using things I had - a small, square, white dish, a silver reindeer, a few pine cones, and some dinner candles.



The centerpiece on my dinning table is yet another mishmash of stuff. This is an old silver plated tray that I got years ago at a yard sale, filled it with fake snow (I could have also used Epsom salt or white candle shavings for snow), pine cones, moss, candles for sparkle, and 2 mercury glass Christmas trees.





Of course I couldn't ignore the light fixture over the dinning table so I put some Christmas balls on that too.



I took a few more pictures that I'll post later this week. Nothing like overdoing it for Christmas. :)