Celebrating in Cleveland

We were in Cleveland this past weekend to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of my sister Linda and her husband Rich. Hard to believe!! They had a big dinner and party at Pine Ridge Country Club, and all of their children and grandchildren were there, along with lots of other family and friends. It was so great to be with all of our family, and many old friends who we have known for so many years. We looked at old pictures and of course reminisced about their wedding on that cold December day 50 years ago. We carried white poinsettias! (I was a bridesmaid.) We talked about and looked at pictures of the 50th anniversary parties of our grandparents and our parents, all joyful occasions for our family, and now it's their turn.  It was a great party,  a delicious dinner, and with loving speeches by their oldest son Rich and oldest grandchild, Claire. All the grandchildren came out with posters showing what they love most about their grandparents. We danced until late, and it was so much fun to celebrate this occasion with Linda and Rich and their family. Quite a milestone.

Walt and my brother Tom

 Tom and Evie

Linda, Rich, Richie (dressed as Rich as a Providence College basketball player back in the 1960s), and JP

Grandchildren

More grandchildren

Grandchildren at dinner--Shea, Owen, JP, Grace, Sophie, Colin, Emily

Rich, Grace, Emily, and my niece Kathryn

Richie, Shea, Connor, JP, and Colin dancing

Dancing

On Sunday, my niece Kirsten was sworn in as Council President for the City of Euclid, and we were able to attend the ceremony--here she is with her family after the ceremony. We are so proud of her!

Connor, Kevin, Emily, Kirsten, and Dan

Kirsten and Emily, relaxing

Dan, Richie, and Connor holding our grandparents'  50th anniversary plate 

Chilly day on Lake Erie

And a snowy Lake Erie, end of December

Cookie Exchange 2013

Prudy and Eileen,  Cookie Exchange 2013

Eileen, Prudy, and I had our annual cookie exchange on Friday night at Eileen's house. After exclaiming over the beautiful presentations of the cookies and having a few yummy drinks, Eileen served us a delicious dinner of spaghetti bolognese. Cookie exchange is a tradition we have been doing for many, many years, and we all agreed it is one of our favorites parts of Christmas. Along with the cookies and a cute container we always add a few small gifts. It's always fun to see what each other has picked up during the year.  Between us this year we had hazelnut crescents, date and fig pinwheels, molasses cookies, chocolate peppermint drops, chocolate chip bars, and Rolo-filled chocolate cookies. Yum, they were all delicious.

Now if we could only get rid of this 75 degree weather it might feel like Christmas...

Gingerbread Houses

The other day while at Reston Town Center I stopped to see the gingerbread village that the chefs at the Hyatt make every Christmas and display in the hotel's lobby. I've always loved gingerbread houses. I love every single gingerbread house I've ever seen.  I love the colors, the candy, the imaginative ways people decorate the roofs, the shingles, the windows, just everything about them. The more the better when it comes to gingerbread houses. And if there's a train running around it, all the better.

And of course it got me thinking about all the gingerbread houses I have made over the years. I started making them with my kids when they were little and we made them most every year. It was always a highlight of the Christmas preparations for me, making the gingerbread and cutting out the pieces of the house (no pre-made kits then), buying the bags of candy,  and watching my kids' faces when I pulled it all out and said we were going to make the gingerbread house.

Books On My Nightstand

Always important to have lots of good books for the holidays--


The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert--a novel about an 18th century female botanist.

The Woman Upstairs, by Claire Messud--"How angry am I? You don't want to know." Great first line. 

The Goldfinch--this novel has gotten rave reviews and the New York Times just named it one of the 10 best books of the year.

Sense and Sensibility, by Joanna Trollope--a contemporary version of the Jane Austen classic. I love most of Trollope's books, so am looking forward to this one!

Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline. Someone recommended this book to me, and I've had it on hold forever. 

O Pioneers, by Willa Cather--book club pick for January. We loved My Antonia.

Nobody

Nobody

by Michael Laskey

If you can't bring yourself to build
a snowman or even to clench
a snowball or two to fling
at the pine tree trunk, at least
find some reason to take you out

of yourself: scrape a patch of grass clear
for the birds maybe; prod at your shrubs
so they shake off the weight, straighten up;
or just stump about leaving prints
of your boots, your breath steaming out.

Promise. Don't let yourself in
for this moment again: the end
of the afternoon, drawing the curtains
on the glare of the garden, a whole
day of snow nobody's trodden.

Snow Day

 Yesterday we woke up to a winter wonderland--well sort of, there was snow on the ground and it was snowing heavily, looking like a great snow day. The federal government was closed, schools were closed, even the never-closed libraries were closed. It was Walt's birthday, so he took off for his traditional run on his birthday, something he does every year. He really likes to run in the snow, especially when it is still snowing, so he was happy and felt good.  By early afternoon the snow had stopped and the town plows were starting to make the rounds, so about 3 pm we decided to go to the nursery and pick out our tree.

Birthday boy off for a run

Why are Christmas trees never easy?  Usually it's the lights that cause problems,  but this year once we got the tree into the stand and into the house, I started pouring water into the stand and it totally poured out of the bottom--the bottom had a leak. After soaking up all the water on the carpet with towels, we had to take the tree out of the stand, back into the garage, drive to Home Depot hoping to find a new stand (we did), then start all over again. No lights or decorations yet, that fun is for tonight.

On Sunday I made a few outdoor pots for the front steps, using greens from my yard and a few branches of winterberry that I bought at a nursery. I love how they turned out. They looked especially great in the snow.

Sparkly Monday

We had a wintry mix yesterday with mostly icy rain in the evening. This morning I looked outside and everything outside looked so sparkly and icy, I had to venture out and take my camera.  Every branch is encased in ice, it really looks beautiful.

I love the ice-covered lavender...

And an ice-covered lilac bud.

Orchid: Color of the Year

Breaking News: Pantone announced  yesterday that they have selected this luscious color for the 2014 Color of the Year. Last year the Color of the Year was Emerald (my fav) but I like the new color too. I find as I get older I like color more and more.

"While the 2013 color of the year, Pantone 17-5641 Emerald, served as a symbol of growth, renewal and prosperity, Radiant Orchid reaches across the color wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imagination," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute in a news release Thursday. "Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm." 

I love that orchid color and it made me take a look at my own orchids. I have one that is almost exactly the color above. It's not blooming now, but my white orchid is blooming its little heart out right now.

And another one is waiting in the wings, sending up that spike that will soon be covered in blooms. Orchids are the best indoor flowering plant, as they are really easy care and when they do bloom, they bloom for months. Last year one of my orchids bloomed from February through July. Yea orchid! If you love the color too,  Lowe's will be carrying the paint, and it will undoubtedly carry over into fashion, furniture, and textiles in 2014. We'll see.

The Ponds

The Ponds, by Mary Oliver

“Still, what I want in my life

is to be willing

to be dazzled –

to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even

to float a little

above this difficult world.

I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.

I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing –

that the light is everything — that it is more than the sum

of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.”

Winter Garden

After what seems like days of cooking and eating and cleaning up my kitchen, it felt good on Sunday to get outside in the yard and in my garden. While everyone else in our neighborhood was putting up Christmas lights and reindeer on their roofs, we finished raking and mulching what I hope are the last of the leaves, and I emptied a few remaining pots. I did some major cleanup in the front garden, cutting back a lot of perennials that I often leave over the winter, but I was just in the mood to work so I decided to keep cutting and raking. Down with the anemones, peonies, asters, phlox. The more I do now, the less work in the spring, right?  I did leave the sedums and baptisia for now. And then there's the back yard...

The garden looks so bare and gray this morning.  Now it just needs a nice layer of pretty snow.

And just so we remember, here's what this front garden looked like in June.

Later in the afternoon, I went to Merrifield  because this weekend was their Holiday Open House and I wanted to see if they had any unusual holiday garden decorations.  They have really beautiful greens and wreaths and I picked up some greens and some poinsettias for the house. I am wanting to try an outdoor pot with greens, using branches from my yard, but I picked up a few specialty greens (winterberry, cedar lime, and some firs), so we'll see how that turns out.

Thanksgiving 2013

I totally forgot I had these photos of Thanksgiving, so here are a few shots of Turkey Day a little late. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with the Langes and the Bensons, and with both our kids at home. Before dinner we watched some football of course, played some games, and Julia was a crafty girl, making a poster for everyone to write on what they were thankful for, and hand lettered place cards on real leaves. So great to be with our family and friends.

And whipped creme à la Aunt Evie