I love handmade greeting cards. I received this beautiful Christmas Card signed inside, “Love Mom and Dad.” It’s beautiful…a treasure to keep always.
Place – Ocean City & Strathmere N.J./Post Hurricane Sandy
December 1st dawned with the weather unseasonably warm, a perfect day to visit Ocean City, New Jersey. The day was sunny with fluffy white clouds in the sky, quite the departure from the grey skies of Hurricane Sandy. As you can see in the picture above, there are still a few storefronts boarded up. We didn’t see any damage in Ocean City. The beaches seem to be intact, and the boardwalk undamaged.
We stopped at our favorite pizza place, we think it is the best pizza in the world. Manco and Manco, in the past better known as Mac and Manco, can’t be beat for delicious boardwalk style pizza.
It was fun to see Santa Claus arrive and climb into his boat, ready to listen to Christmas wishes from the children.
We both left feeling good about one of our favorite places in the world. Our next stop was Strathmere…our favorite beach to visit. The town lies next door to Ocean City, but is more rustic, no boardwalk and very small. The perfect place for a quiet family outing in the summertime. We were thrilled to see although the beach had a bit of erosion on the point, for the most part the town fared well too.
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Peculiarities – Geese in December
Are you old enough to remember the days when flocks of geese really did fly south? The geese in this area don’t seem to follow that rule anymore. Here are a few I photographed yesterday in a local lake.
A great article explaining why geese don’t fly south anymore can be found here: Why Geese Don’t Fly South
While I was photographing the resident birds, I caught sight of this strange duck. It resembles birds we see when we vacation on Block Island in Rhode Island. Anyone know it’s name? I doubt I will see it next time I visit the lake.
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Projects – Crayon Hearts
We recently made heart shaped crayons using a silicone baking sheet of hearts and old broken crayons.
Strip paper off of crayons
Break into small pieces
Place into silicone molds (I easily cut mine in half to fit into toaster)
Place on sturdy tray. Heat in oven at 250
Check constantly
When pieces are melted take out of oven immediately
Let cool completely
Pop out of mold by turning the sheet inside out
We used the toaster oven and heated the crayons out on the porch just in case the smell of the crayons melting became overpowering.
One quick tip: You may notice some of the crayons are a solid color and some have many different swirls of colors. We prefer the swirled colors. The solid colors heated too long and the colors melted together too completely. To get the swirled effect take the crayons out of the toaster as soon as they are melted.
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Plants – Herb Whisperer
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed…” Genesis 1:29 (KJV)
Years ago, my mother surprised me with this gift, a rack of bottles for floral arrangements, or as in my case, a place to root plant cuttings. From the day I received this gift, until now, my bottles have not been without sprigs of plants. Placed in a bright window, without strong direct sunlight, the cuttings thrive. My home is filled with plants I have rooted in these bottles.
Lavender
A week or two ago, I cut a piece of lavender from the garden with hopes of enjoying it through the winter. Lavender is a plant I find hard to start from seed or cutting, but it is not impossible. Even if this sprig doesn’t root for me, I will still enjoy its soft scent through the cold months. I consider myself a herb whisperer of sort. I can imagine you shaking your head, “A what?” you ask. Yes, a herb whisperer. I coax a whiff of beautiful fragrance from my herbs by gently running my hand over the leaves. I don’t need to press. I don’t need to rub. A soft brushing of my fingertips against the foliage releases the oils, and the scent reaches my nose, instantly elevating my mood and energy level.
Peppermint
Whether it is the calming effect of my lavender, or the invigorating swoosh of peppermint, or the contentment found in the fragrance of rosemary, not many days go by without me calling up the herb whisperer within my character.
Rosemary
In winter two of these herbs are still easy to find, peppermint and rosemary are often sold in local supermarkets in the produce section. Lavender might be a bit more difficult to locate in the winter, but if you have a dormant plant in your garden or in a friends, cut a sprig and bring it inside, it will reward you with weeks and weeks of subtle fragrance.
Aromatherapy effects:
Lavender – calming, mood enhancing, cures insomnia and headaches. Read more here: Benefits of Lavender
Peppermint – anti-inflammatory, kills viral infections, clears lung congestion. Read more here: Benefits of Peppermint
Rosemary – aids in digestion, eases stomach cramps, relieves headaches. Read more here: Benefits of Rosemary
More on the care and culture of these three herb plants can be found in the links below:
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Perspective – Christmas “To-Do” Lists
If you are like me you have more than one piece of paper filled top to bottom with plans you want to accomplish before Christmas. The photo above shows only one of my lists…my homemade decorations and projects. Oh my!
Where am I going to find time to make cookies and visit with loved ones?
I think on this first day of December I need to put things into perspective. I love the following video…a quick and unexpected four minutes of song helps relieve the busyness and stress for these holiday shoppers. A good reminder for all of us of what we are truly celebrating. Enjoy.
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Plantings – Hugelkultur – The Ultimate Raised Garden Beds
I like to include new ideas on my blog. This method of gardening seems to defeat drought conditions. It’s worth a look considering much of the US experienced severe drought this past growing season.
It might be a long way until Spring, but it’s always wise to come up with a gardening plan during the winter months.
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Projects – Storybook Magnets.
Have I said yet that I love Pinterest? Or course I have. There are so many good ideas and projects to be found at the Pinterest boards. Click here to visit Pinterest. Recently I found a project to make for the grandchildren. The directions are so easy. I went to the local craft store and bought three sheets of magnetic paper.
The next stop was a local thrift store…six books for 1.00. I flipped through the books and chose several illustrations that I thought the grandsons would like.
I cut the illustrations out of the books leaving a bit of paper border around each. I brushed a little matte Mod-Podge onto the magnetic sheet and smoothed the illustrations onto the surface, then coated them with another thin and even coat of the Mod-Podge. They were dry in just a few hours. I then cut them out along the outer lines.
They curled up a bit so I weighted them in a large book. Within a few hours they were completely flat and ready to use.
The magnets worked like a dream and bought a big smile to the face of my three year old grandson. Hooray!
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Preparedness – Sleeping Warm
When my husband and I camp in the late autumn or winter it is usually near or at freezing at some point through the night. Dressing right for sleeping is important if we want to get a good night’s rest.
Our area recently went through Hurricane Sandy. Many areas were without electricity for weeks, the nighttime temperatures were very cold. I remember hearing a woman on a newscast state she could not get warm enough to sleep at night.
Whether you are camping or in an emergency situation, it is good to know the proper steps to take to sleep warm. Be prepared.
Through Scoutmaster.com I found some good tips:
1. Go to Bed Warm
2. Fuel Up
3. Drink Water
4. Wear the Proper Clothing
5. Use Hot Water Bottles
6. Wear a Hat
7. Keep your nose and mouth outside blankets or sleeping bag
8. Keep off the ground
9. Wear socks
10. Shake up your sleeping bag to redistribute insulation.
To read more fully developed directions on each of the ten points above go to: How to Sleep Warm
I printed out the tips to put into my preparedness notebook.
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Prose and Phavorites – A Little Princess
I was a constant reader as a child. I had many favorites, Heidi, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Laura Ingalls Little House books. One of my favorite authors was Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved The Secret Garden and also A Little Princess. As an adult I sometimes revisit these books. I take after my maternal Grandmother in that characteristic, she loved children’s classics too. Recently, I had an inclination to reread A Little Princess. It was just as wonderful a story as it was when I first read it near forty-five years ago. I was struck by the wisdom I found in the book. I especially liked this paragraph in Chapter VI.
“If Nature has made you a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that-warm things, kind things, sweet things-help and comfort and laughter-and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.”
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Painting – Acrylics/Sunflowers Part I
Longwood Gardens Sunflowers
This sunflower photograph was pleasing, but pointing in the wrong direction, I flipped it in my photo workshop, and added it to my final composition. I will have to be careful that I don’t misrepresent the direction of the shadows when I begin to paint.
I am very new at painting with acrylics. I have painted with watercolors for well over twenty years, and I still plan to use this medium in the future, but I have been enjoying the boldness and opaque qualities of acrylics.
To start I coated the 18 x 24 inch canvas with a layer of gesso. I don’t have as large a palette of colors with acrylics and used a combination of cobalt blue and ultramarine blue to begin painting the sky.
I had a good time creating the clouds. In watercolor the use of white is taboo. You must save portions of the paper completely without color to give the effect of white. This can be difficult and one loose drop of paint can spoil the effect you are attempting to achieve.
In acrylics, the whites are opaque, and produce good coverage. I was able to actually enjoy painting the clouds, and painted exuberantly, rather than holding my hand and creativeness in check.
I blended the cobalt blue into the white at the bottom of the clouds to give them some stability and shadow. I used medium extender to keep the paint wet longer, giving me more time to move it around.
I will update the progress of the painting in a few days. So far I am pleased with the progress.
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Pleasures and Projects – Handmade Cards
My sister Amy created a handmade card for my birthday this year. She drew leaves, watercolored lightly, then filled in the shape and other areas with an ultra-fine felt tip pen. I love my beautiful card.
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Project & Pleasures – Paper Snowflakes
TIME TO CUT THE SNOWFLAKES
PART 2 SHOWS HOW TO ADD A LAYER OF WAX TO THE SNOWFLAKES TO REPEL MOISTURE FROM THE WINDOWS.
I posted these last year, but they are worth repeating.
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Postcards – Vintage Thanksgiving and Autumn
I collect old postcards. I don’t have a preferable style, but I do tend to collect the years of 1900 through 1910. Many of the postcards are related to holidays, birthdays or seasons of the year. I’ve included two Thanksgiving postcards here along with an Autumn Scene.
So often my postcards will have a picture in a picture…in the case above a landscape within a seasonal depiction of a turkey.
Many postcard collectors prefer pristine cards that have no writing and have never been mailed. I am just the opposite; the more cramped, old-fashioned writing a card has, the more I love it.
I also find the wisdom of this postcard mailed a hundred years ago to be as true today as it was in the early 1900’s – Live for Today.
It can be quite a challenge to read the writing…scrawly, in this case written by a lefty, and using expressions not common today, but it is a challenge I love. A good way to attempt to decipher the cramped writing is to scan the card and magnify on your computer screen. Here is how this postcard reads:
Dear Effie I rec. (received) your card and was glad to hear from you and (a name I can’t read), I will wish you both a Happy New Year. Will (unknown word) and write soon. My head is troubling me. I suppose you have not the cold winter where you are as have both. Altog (?altogether?) we have had it very mild so far. I hope it may continue for I do not like the cold. With lots of love. Your old friend Ada.
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Perspective – Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
A strange fact crossed my mind a year or two ago. I commented about it to my husband, “Do you realize,” I asked, “The percentage of people who remember the day Kennedy was shot is much less than those who don’t remember?”
This felt like strange territory to me. It was another instance that gave me pause about the fleeting nature of life. How could this be? I was just barely six years old on November 22, 1963. I was a first grader at Mount Pleasant Elementary School in Easton, Maryland. My father was the pastor of the Wesleyan Church, known then as the Pilgrim Holiness Church, at 620 Goldsborough Street. After lunch the principle of the school, Mrs Lyons, slipped into the door of Mrs. Johnson’s first grade room. We were told that President Kennedy had been shot and we all closed our eyes, bowed our head, and prayed for him.
Oh, how times have changed! In the age we are living in now the truth and calling upon God would not be allowed. How many lawsuits, how many newspapers articles and newscasts would happen if as a school and nation we were (with utter sincerity and purpose and not just as a convenient sound bite and spin) called upon to pray for anything? How we have fallen!
When we were dismissed we found out, from the parents who suddenly drove to pick up their children who always walked home, that our president had died.
As young as I was I remember the solemn hush that fell like a dark cloud. I remember watching the funeral, the procession on black and white television. I learned a new word I had never heard before in my young life when the commentators spoke of…”the caisson carrying the president.”
Caisson – A horse-drawn vehicle, usually two-wheeled, used to carry artillery ammunition and coffins at military funerals.
I relate my experience of the Kennedy assassination to recommend the book written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The book was very well-written, and I came away from it with a new appreciation for John and Jacqueline Kennedy. The book was not a whitewashed account. Flaws and weaknesses of the president and those around him were honestly revealed, but without being sensationalized. It is regrettable that his assassination eclipsed so much of the good JFK accomplished while he served his term as president. I’m so glad to have read this honest and factual work. It is a terrific book.
Thursday will mark the forty-ninth year that has passed since JFK was assassinated.
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Photographs & People – Happy Anniversary Dad and Mom
Today is my parent’s anniversary. Happy Anniversary Dad and Mom…and many, many more! I love you…always.
Beautiful…and she still is! She has always dressed so pretty and refined. I love the pocketbook, the gloves in her hand and the hat. What a lady!
Handsome…and he still is! Look at those socks and cuffed trousers. Wow! I love it.
A recent photograph of Mom and Dad
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Perspective – Amazing Video and Project
I’m not sure I can sufficiently explain the idea behind this haunting video, but it seems appropriate to post it now with what is going on in the Middle East. Children are still dying. Wars are still being fought with possible horrific consequences for us all? Does anyone know the answer? Although this video and the butterflies were made in 2010, the purpose behind the project will never end. We should never forget what happened in the Holocaust, we should guard against it happening again.
Here is the link to the author of this video’s blog post: The Butterfly Mandate
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Phrustration – Disappearing Act
Decided I wanted to bake.
Had the bright idea to quickly soften the butter outdoors in the sun,
Waited an hour or so, did some chores in the house.
Time to make the cookies…
Went outside to fetch the butter…
One stick was gone…
I should have known better.
My butter was thirty feet away.
Under the pines…
Ravaged,
The paper torn askew.
The butter exposed…
Chewed, gulped, swallowed and wallowed in. Bah!
I hope that ornery squirrel had a big bellyache.
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Projects – Vermicomposting/The Worm Farm Update
A quick update on my vermicomposting project. Vermicomposting is a fancy name for worm farming. You can read my initial blog post on worm farming here: The Worm Farm.
The “farm” is doing terrific. I found a wonderful blog that is helping me along. Vermicomposters.com contains the answers to any question a newbie vermicomposter has about worm farming. You can take a look at the site here: Vermicomposters.
One of the topics I found to be of great help was on the subject of what the worms like to eat. I saw that cantaloupe and other melons are a worm favorite. I had an old piece of cantaloupe rind in my fridge that was beyond the date of safe human consumption so I decided to give it a try. I scooped out the interior of the melon and placed it in a corner of the worm farm. What a surprise awaited me in about ten days or so…the cantaloupe seeds had sprouted. You can see a few of them in the picture above. After reading a blog post on Vermicomposters.com, I was assured that this is common and is an indication that you are doing things right. You can read the vermicomposting post here: Sprouting Seeds
Another surprise has been the fresh air smell that wafts out of the composter. I was prepared for a sour odor…not so…the smell that awaits me each time I feed the worms is that of the floor of woodsy forest. It is in no way offensive.
I feed my worms every five days. So far I have given them lettuce, apple peels, crushed eggshells, a minimal amount of coffee grounds, and the cantaloupe. They are thriving. The bottom layer of newspaper bedding I added at the start has since turned into compost. I’m thrilled! The liquid capture kitty litter bucket has been filled with bits of compost and liquid, again no odor, and I have added this to the water I give to my houseplants.
Need I even say that so far my worm farm has been a success! If you’ve ever felt a nudge to give it a try…please give into your inclination. It is so much fun.
I will post updates about my worm farm progress through the next few months…check back.
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Plant & Project – Sweet Potato Vine Update
It’s time to begin a few indoor gardening projects. At the top of my list is growing a sweet potato plant with my grandchildren.
Growing a sweet potato is easy. Buy a good-sized sweet potato or yam from a farm or organic market; they are less likely to be treated with chemicals to prevent sprouting. Insert three or four toothpicks around the widest circumference and place the bottom in water. A flower vase with a slender neck is the perfect container to choose.
The tuber grows quickly and develops a large root system. In just over a month it will be ready for planting in a pot of soil.
I left a portion of the tuber above the soil line. I think it adds a bit of interest to the look of the plant. I also like the way the tuber mirrors the golden-orange brown of the pot’s ceramic finish.
Growing a sweet potato is a fun and easy project for Autumn or Winter.
