Amaryllis 'Très Chic'

My new amaryllis 'Très Chic' from White Flower Farm started to bloom right around New Years Day,   exactly 36 days after I planted it. It's a really pretty shade of dark pinkish red, with a chartreuse and white center. I really love how it looks in the morning with the sun shining through it--it almost glows.  So far I have had seven blooms on one stalk, and there just might be another stalk coming on.   It is just starting to fade now, so I have enjoyed a good two weeks plus of blooming time. I keep mine in a window, so I turn it every day to keep the long stem straight, as it tends to bend towards the sunlight. I also keep a loose loop of twine around the stem to keep it from falling over--I have had the unfortunate experience of coming down one morning to see another amaryllis broken and on the floor.

 And here is how it looked in mid-November after I received the bulb in the mail. Miraculous, no?

And a few weeks later, the flower buds in appearance, preparing for the show.

Sunday in DC

Marc Chagall's 'Orphée

Yesterday was the most glorious day here. Sunny and cool, but after the bitter cold weather  of the past weeks it felt almost spring-like. We decided to go into DC after I read an article in The Post on Sunday morning about this Chagall mosaic in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. I have been waiting for this mosaic to be displayed for years, and apparently it was installed in November.  Who knew? I first read about the mosaic years ago--and about John and Evvie Nef, who lived on 28th Street in Georgetown and were friends with the artist Marc Chagall, who made this mosaic for their garden.  I was so mad that I didn't know about this mosaic earlier, as we have walked around Georgetown for years and years, and I didn't even know it was there! I would have surely searched it out, peeked in the garden, climbed over a wall, or gone on a garden tour to see it displayed in their garden.  But alas, I didn't know about it until I read the article in 2009 that Evvie Nef had died and left the mosaic to the National Gallery of Art, and then learned the whole story about the mosaic, and about their friendship with Marc Chagall.





 This gorgeous mosaic is made of thousands of tiny hand-cut pieces -- called tesserae--of colored glass and stone. When Chagall first proposed the idea of a mosaic for their Georgetown garden, the Nefs thought it would be a simple plaque. Instead it was a 10-foot high and 17-foot wide mosaic, and the Nefs had to build a 30-foot brick wall to house the piece.  It was installed in their garden in 1971, with Chagall in attendance!

When Evvie Nef died in 2009 (John Nef died in 1988)  at the age of 96, the National Gallery began the painstaking process of disassembling the mosaic.  The Nefs left their entire art collection, including the mosaic, to the NGA.  Evvie Nef wanted the mosaic to be displayed outdoors,  and so it was installed in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.  You can imagine the process involved in taking it down and reassembling it--involving a team of conservators, mosaicists, carpenters, masons, architects, and engineers working for more than three years.  And so I have been waiting...and it was worth waiting for.

The colors of the mosaic are beautiful, the glass pieces reflecting light and glittering in the sunlight.  The setting is perfect--tucked in a corner of the garden, so similar to its original home in the Nef's Georgetown garden. I know it will be a must-see every time we are on the Mall.

It was such a pretty day and we were happy just walking around the garden and watching the ice skaters in the NGA ice rink that we almost didn't go in any museums. But we did pop into the National Gallery to see the new Van Gogh that went on display in December, Green Wheat Fields, Auvers, that was painted just before his death in 1890.

'Spider'

This stainless steel tree is one of my favorites. You can see if from across the mall, so bright and shiny and it looks spectacular against the blue sky.

'Graft' stainless steel tree

Lots of skaters on the rink (National Archives in the background)

'Girls' 

'Amor'

Love these gnarly crape myrtles

Close-up of heavily pruned crape myrtles

Van Gogh's  Green Wheat Fields, Auvers

Winter Bulbs

I have my little bulb corner going now--two amaryllis plants and a bowl of paperwhites. It's fun to try to keep some things blooming in these chilly days of winter. I have my orchids--white one still in bloom and pink one just beginning-- and I have my new amaryllis which started blooming around New Year's Day.  I  buy paperwhite bulbs in the fall to plant for Christmas, and pretty much always forget about them until after Christmas. Which is okay, cause then I have some sweet smelling blooms in January. So the other day I got out my bag of rocks, and my vintage bulb bowl,  and the bulbs,  and got them planted. I just plant them in the rocks, no soil, cover the bulbs with water, and in a few weeks they'll be blooming. Easy peasy. Sometimes I put some moss over them to pretty them up, but obviously forgot that this time. 

This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage

Not a novel, but a collection of essays by Ann Patchett that have appeared in various publications such as Atlantic Monthly, Granta, Gourmet, Harper's, the New York Times, and Vogue, among others.  If you like Ann Patchett’s books like I do, you will probably enjoy reading these mostly personal essays about her life, and the people who are most important to her. I listened to the book on CD, and the book is read by Patchett herself, so that by the end I kind of felt like I knew her. I think it's so great when the authors read their own books.

One of the best essays is about the bookstore that Patchett opened in her hometown of Nashville. After a beloved independent bookstore closed its doors a few years ago,  Patchett and a partner made the decision to open their own bookstore, which was welcomed with open arms in Nashville and seems to be very successful today. There are essays about road trips she takes with her husband,  her dog, her grandmother,   her marriage, a nun who taught her in grade school and is today a good friend, about her love for opera (she was researching  Bel Canto), about her early years as a writer, her unhappy first marriage, and about her tumultuous friendship with the late poet Lucy Grealy. She offers practical advice about writing which I think would be of interest to any aspiring writer. I really enjoyed the book, and getting to know Ann Patchett.

Sunday in DC

On Sunday afternoon we decided to brave the cold, cold weather and go into DC to see a yoga exhibit that I have been wanting to see at the Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian. The exhibit is titled 'Yoga: The Art of Transformation,' and is filled with temple sculptures, icons, colorful manuscripts and paintings from the past 2,000 years, as well as modern photographs, books, and films. The exhibit explores 'yoga's rich diversity and historical transformations, including its philosophies, transformational goals, and importance within multiple religions.' We were lucky to get in on a tour, which really helped us to better understand a lot of the exhibit.

There was no photography allowed, so I took some photos outdoors in the Enid Haupt Garden which is adjacent to the Sackler. Then we headed down the street to the U.S. Botanic Gardens, for the last day of their wonderful holiday display.  We try to get down there every year to see the train display and poinsettias and the displays of the all the Washington monuments made from natural materials--it is a must-see holiday exhibit in DC, and we got there just in time!

Here are just a few of the monuments on display at the Botanic Gardens, as I know I have posted pictures of these in past years, but they are just so amazing and great.

The Capitol at the U.S. Botanic Gardens--made from all natural materials, leaves, twigs, acorns, etc.

Supreme Court with Capitol in background

The train display had model trains and replicas of World's Fair monuments,  and of course I focused in on the Eiffel Tower (sorry, no train passing by).

And of course we wandered through the conservatory, I just love that place. Such a great place to visit on a cold wintery day. So lush and warm, with tropical flowers and orchids bursting with color and fragrance.

Random Christmas Shots

Meadowlark Gardens on Christmas Eve

I didn't take many pictures at Christmas this year, but here are a few random pictures from the holidays that were in my camera. I did get a new lens for Christmas, so I am anxious to try that out.

Meadowlark Gardens on Christmas Eve

Julia making pizzelles

We like to do puzzles over Christmas, and this year we did two! Good thing Julia was around or we'd still be working on one.

Starting Puzzle #2

Brooks setting up our new toy--Apple TV

Oysters on New Year's Eve