Tag: fireplace

Gardening

Winter Dreams

This week in Kansas, spring is calling and I don’t want to go! This is very unusual for me. At one time, at the very first hint of warm weather, I was browsing seed catalogs and planning my new additions to the yard.

Spring is coming, way too soon for me. I want to cuddle up beside a fire and watch the snow blow outside my window. The visual beauty of drifts deepening, tree limbs laden with white frosting, and blustery skies is very appealing right now.

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I think I must be sick.

Today will be in the mid-seventies once again. The birds are chirping joyfully as they swing on the bird feeder. Their little chat groups are meeting in my olive shrubs, red cardinals dotting the small branches.

As I look out my back door, I see hedges desperately in need of trimming once again. My northern Hibiscus has dwindled down to only a few stalks, my American Beauty climbing rose died last winter and still needs to be removed. The Angel Face climbing rose on the opposite side of the leaning trellis has green shoots exploding everywhere. The stone terrace is still only half-finished and my little pond is filled with slimy water. These tasks are what meet my eye, and it makes me feel sad and old. Old because the work seems overwhelming these days, and sad because the motivation is not there.

No, it’s not a big deal in the broad spectrum of life. And believe me, there are items that need to be taken care of in the house that are even more important. But this post is suppose to be about gardening, and the outside, not the inside projects.

So, today I’m going to think about winter, because we really haven’t had any this year so far. Not in my opinion anyway. I think we had flurries a couple of times, and nothing really on the ground for long.

This afternoon, I’m going to picture my little pond with the surrounding of limestone, blanketed with white. The birds will be chirping in the silence of a winter day, their colors stark against the blustery, gray sky and drifting snowflakes. I will visualize trees with dark branches covered in white, waiting for new leaves. In my dreams I can think of the bulbs, cozy and warm under the soil, waiting to poke out little green shoots into the springtime sun.

But I will be sitting beside a warm, crackling fire, sipping a cup of something dark and delicious. I may even pull out a gardening catalog, and dream just a little bit about the warmer, to stay, days ahead. But just a little bit.

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Just For Fun!

Time to Change the Sheets!

No, I don’t recommend that you drink that cup of tea. I just thought the picture was pretty, and it reminded me of how very little time I’ve had lately to sip tea and read. If I poured a steaming pot of water over an aromatic tea bag, it would sit until it gathered leaves, just as the picture above demonstrates.

Autumn is becoming more of a favorite time of year for me. When I was younger, it always seemed as though it was a bit depressing, watching everything die back and get ready for a long, cold winter. Now I appreciate the colors more and the anticipation of life slowing down for a few months. It would be lovely to be able to sit beside a roaring fire, watching gentle snow as I sipped hot chocolate, but we’ll have to see how that turns out!

The change of seasons also means change the sheets. The first of October the cotton sheets go into the trunk and closet, and out come the flannel sheets along with the heavier blankets. The rooms are thoroughly cleaned, curtains washed, windows if needed. Fans are set to the winter mode and wiped down as well. Our youngest volunteered to do this for me this fall, and I let her. One less chair to climb for me! And of course, every year, the day I put on the flannel sheets, we have a heat wave. But, at least the job is done!

What made this job even more enjoyable was our cat, pictured below. And yes, she is a bit perturbed in this picture!

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She spent the morning in our bedroom, sitting in the middle of everything I needed to do! Aargh! At one point, after fifty times of going around her, trying not to topple the mound of bedding on the rocking chair, I managed to almost step on her. In my effort to miss her, I did finally send the bedding to the floor, and I flung the extension wand of the vacuum into the whirling fan blades before I caught myself on the way to falling on my face. Those fans have quite the ability to jerk something out of your hands and fling it across the room! Thankfully, no one and nothing was hurt. The fan still works, and the plastic pieces of the vacuum wand seem to be all in one piece as they should be. Cassie had her feathers ruffled a bit, and so she finally decided it was safer outside. She would not smile for the camera!

 

The above pictures are the finished product of a morning of cleaning. And yes, the storms blew through and now it is cool enough to enjoy the flannel sheets upon the bed. Soon, I will spend my evenings beside the fireplace…eating ice cream. But that’s another post!

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Have a great Saturday, and give your cat a little love!