Ten Days of Little Celebrations - December 2013

Over a year ago I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for December 2013.

Quite a few this month involved food - but I celebrated them for different reasons:

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing was celebrated because the first one I bought did not have cream cheese icing (I did not suspect beforehand that Red Velvet Cake could have any other kind of icing!) and because is brought back memories of teen aged birthdays when my mother made the cake for my birthday. Oh - and I like the way it looks too!

Roasted Garlic Hummus as Stir Fry Sauce was celebrated because it was a serendipity experiment that worked! I needed something to give punch to a veggie stir fry and the hummus worked very well - stirred in just before serving.

Cranberry Orange Bread bought from the grocery store bakery was a treat to have with hot chocolate to celebrate being warm inside on a cold winter’s day - bought with a coupon and tasting so good I ate the whole round loaf in just two days.

Beans in Cherry Crumble Bars were celebrated because they were a pleasant surprise. The recipe was one I saw on the web and almost didn’t try!

Popcorn with Pumpkin Seed Oil was a celebration because it was healthier that store bought microwave popcorn (I popped kernels in a paper lunch sack in the microwave) and because the oil turned the corn a pleasant green color.

Another group of celebrations involved fund raising activities for non-profits:

Conservancy Holiday Sale was a celebration that combined food, happy people, and a good cause.

The lights at Brookside Gardens are a traditional part of our December celebrations. We always pay to park and enjoy the lights at least once during the season.

Weather prompts 2 more celebrations:

Declaring a Snow Day is always a celebration. It probably started when I was in school, went almost dormant until I had my daughter. She reinforced it; my husband and/or I always took a vacation day when the schools closed for snow. Now - I find myself celebrating a snow day at home even when I am the only one at home!

A warming trend is worth celebrating in December. When we walked around Brookside in the early evening it was in the mid-60s rather than the mid-20s as it would have been a week earlier. Yes - it did feel strange to be wearing a sweater rather than bundled up in coat, scarf, hat, and gloves ---- but it is a comfortable strangeness that I celebrated.

And finally - I celebrated all the build-up to the last week of the 2013.

Brookside Lights - December 2013

Brookside Gardens is having their ‘Garden of Lights’ display through January 5th. We went this past weekend while the weather was balmy (in the 60s). There was a crowd but we managed to get a parking place before the lots filled up. The lights include lots of flowers

 

Some insects (praying mantis and butterfly are pictured but there was a bee hive and ants too)

A rainbow with intermittent rain clouds and lightning

A giraffe (and other animals like lions, pigs, frogs, peacocks and turtles)

Imaginary beings (the one pictured looks like a crazy bird to me…there is also a sea serpent with baby sea serpent too)

And outlines of trees with lights.

In the conservatory there is a model train display which I posted about earlier (here). The model of the ‘facilities’ below was one of additions to that display this year!

Brookside Gardens - December 2013

Brookside Gardens is the place for an evening walk through garden themed lights in December. I was there on a cold but sunny day when snow was still on the ground. The conservatory was lush with tropical plants (star fruit, bird of paradise, poinsettias, and bananas) and the model train display.

Outside, the dragon of lights looked relatively tame in the brightness of day and snow clung to the evergreens - and on some of the artificial flowers created with lights. There was a black squirrel sorting through the leaf litter. The Children’s Garden was cherry with colored lights on the white picket fence - but it was too cold to stay for long. There were very few people in the outdoors of the garden and the ones that were moved quickly along the path. It was a day for a brisk walk - or none at all.

Brookside Gardens - October 2013

Brookside Gardens was full of fall last weekend - colorful foliage and the display of mums in the conservatory. I was a little disappointed that they did not have pumpkins and gourds on display as they have in the last few years - but it was interesting to see the preparations for the lights in the gardens that begin at Thanksgiving.

Indoors there is always the draw of lush tropical foliage in the conservatory and the literate frog sculpture in the visitor center.

 Outdoors the colors of fall abound - with some of the trees completely changed (like the dogwood) and some still mostly green (like the ginkgo).

And take a look at both directions from the entrance bridge of the conservatory parking lot:

Of course there was more...so the rest of my photo picks from my October walk around Brookside Gardens is in the slideshow below.

Brookside Gardens - August 2013

Our stroll through Brookside Gardens this month was the shorter circuit - similar to last month - because of the construction around the large ponds and the tea house that wouldn’t be finished until sometime this winter. There was a still a lot to see. Like last month - flying insects were enjoying the garden. I photographed a dragonfly resting perched on some straw on stone edge of a pool and a tiger swallowtail feeding on a flower.

The rose garden is better than usual for August because the weather this year has not been hot for prolonged periods. I like the ones that are several colors the best.

Of course the larger views of the garden are lush this time of year. In this image - the sycamore towers in the distance with green hedge and plants with colorful foliage and flowers growing vigorously in raised beds.

I noticed the zinnias and realized that the ones I have in pots at home are hybrids that have gone native. They have a single row of petals rather than the dense rows on these flowers. I still like mine with their delicate color - different on the top and the bottom of the petal. And the butterflies and hummingbirds like them too.

The bloom time for the lotus is past and the seed pods are all that remains. Even the seeds are already gone.

The pendulous Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia) has many flowers and they sway with each little breeze. In past years these plants were primarily in the conservatory but they are in several of the outdoor beds this year.

I noticed some new looking shelf fungus on a stump visibile through the foilage. It will be interesting watching them grow and mature in upcoming visits.

And those are the highlights from the walk around Brookside.

Brookside Gardens - July 2013

Brookside Gardens in July - full of lush green backdrop to colorful blooms. I’m starting off this post with critters rather than plants - because I was so pleased with the images I captured. The first was a dragonfly perched on a water lily flower that was just beginning to open. Instead of darting away, it seemed to pose for a picture.

The hummingbird moth on the butterfly bushes was always on the move. This one was red and black and a little larger than the one on my Blazing Star flowers included in my July 10th post. I had seen this same type of moth at Brookside in 2011 but had missed seeing one last summer.

And finally - there were robins everywhere. I took a few pictures and was surprised to discover when I got home and reviewed my images on a large screen that one of the robins was banded - on both legs!

There was a bit of whimsy in the pool with the lily pads: toy ducks. Two of the little ones looked to be sinking. The large one had been given a straw hat.

The lotus plants were full of large leaves. The white flowers were close to the railing - positioned well for photographs.My favorite was one that showed a flower with a seed pod just beginning, a seed pod that had already shed the rest of the flower and a bud. I'll check the lotus patch every time I go to Brookside until frost! A flower with pink edges nestled among the leaves almost hidden from view.

And now for the slide show with the rest of the best from my July walk around the gardens.

Brookside Gardens ‘Wings of Fancy’

One of the Brookside Gardens conservatories is currently dedicated to the annual live butterfly exhibit - ‘Wings of Fancy.’ It was very warm on the day we were there. The butterflies were very active but I didn’t linger as long as in previous years.

Butterflies are calming and invigorating at the same time. They are calming because they are so beautiful in their coloring and shape and the way they move. A better name for them would be ‘flutterbies’ to describe their motion. They are invigorating because they are in motion most of the time on warm days. Many of them open and close their wings even while they rest.

But they are short-lived creatures. Their wings become battered in a short while even in the relative protection of the conservatory. We know their life cycle: egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly - with the near magical metamorphosis taking place in the chrysalis phase. Enjoy the slide show from my walk through the 2013 Brookside Wings of Fancy!

Brookside Spider Web

As I was walking around the Brookside Gardens conservatory (the one that is not in use for the butterfly house this time of year), I glimpsed a spider web over the narrow rock lined stream that winds through the tropical foliage. I decided to see how well my new camera (Canon PowerShot SX280 HS) would capture it. The lighting was not optimal. I could only see the web from a particular vantage point and I could not see the spider itself very clearly at all because it was so small.

As you can see from the pictures I’ve included, the camera did an admirable job. Even the fuzziness of the spider’s legs is visible!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - June 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations’ so I have one for each day up to today rather than the usual 10 for the month! 

1. Enjoying a book by a new author. I read a lot of books; the thrilled of finding an author that is new - or new to me - never seems to wane. It’s a lot like finding an unexpected treasure…and gets even better if the author has written other similar books.
2. Reading in a comfy chair by a window as it rains. The combination of natural light, the sound of rain, a good book, and a comfortable chair - it’s the convergence of things that make the moment special.
3. A calm day before the flurry of travel. Before the packing day…celebrating the calm before the bustle begins. It’s a little too soon to be worried about anything. The day can be savored as the contrast of what is to come.
4. Brookside Gardens. It is a place to celebrate at least monthly. Like all gardens, it changes with every visit. My post from that visit is here.
5. Ready to travel. Through all the trepidation of packing - wondering if everything would fit in the allotted luggage, making sure each back would meet the needs of the travel stages - and then it is done. It all fits. The boarding pass is printed. There is a small list to remember to pack right before heading to the airport. Everything is organized.
6. Arrival - forgetting only one (non-critical) item. Everything went exactly according to plan and the only item I forgot was a snack for the plane. It was left carefully packaged in the refrigerator. I noticed it almost immediately when I got to the gate and was able to purchase some almonds before boarding the plane so was not starving when I got off….and everything else was perfect. Arriving at a destination is always worth a celebration!
7. Sisters dinner. There are four of us - together for over 50 years and still enjoying each other. Our perspectives of growing up in the same household and divergences as adults are sources for almost endless conversation - and it is almost always over food. We ignored calorie counting for the evening.
8. Frontier Texas! in Abilene TX. This museum was a pleasant surprise. I’ll be posting about it eventually. It is new enough to present different perspectives of time period rather than just the traditional ‘Cowboy and Indian’ (masculine) stories.
9. White Sands National Monument. I have a post about this in the next few days. We didn’t rent saucers to slide down the dunes (I’ll wait for a time when I travel with a child for that) but did walk out on the sand barefoot. The whiteness of the sand reflects the heat enough that it is not hot like the tan colored sands.
10. Tucson Sunset. Experiencing the sunset on the first day in a new location is a celebration of a beginning - at the end of the first day with the brilliant colors of day fading to the blues and purples of evening. I’ll do a post about the Tucson sunset next week.
11. Madera Canyon. I posted about Madera Canyon already (here). The trek set the tone for the rest of time in Tucson: do as much as possible in the morning when it is coolest, enjoy the birds, take the easier hikes so everyone in the group can easily keep up, take plenty of pictures.
12. Sunrise and the Saguaro National Park (east). I’ve already posted about the sunrise here - and since we were already up - we took in the National Park as well. I’ll be posted about it in the next few weeks. It is going to take quite a while to work through the blog worthy items from June 2013.
13. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. There is a post coming up for the June visit. I’ve posted about the March 2013 visit (Plants and Birds and Seahorses) previously.
14. Tucson Botanical Garden. A garden in the city that includes large seedless grapefruit trees! There were also artichokes in bloom when we were there. There  is a blog post in development about it.
15. A daughter. What a joy it is to have a daughter than has grown into herself so gracefully! I always think that the current year is the very best of our shared lives….it’s been that way for more than 20 years!
16. Storm in the Davis Mountains. I was not celebrating while we were driving through it - curvy road, towering black thunderheads, pounding rain of very large drops or slushy hail. But we drove on - unscathed - and, in retrospect, the interplay of weather and terrain was quite awesome. Some of the clouds are shown in the Road Trip post from yesterday.
17. Clark Gardens Botanical Park. After a convoluted drive on country roads to find it - we quickly decided it was a place to enjoy and plan a return visit in another season. There will be an upcoming post on our June visit.
18. Back to the Dallas area. It was good to get off the road. We all celebrated not having to go anywhere at all for a day.
19. Home Again. The plane flight was as expected and I savored the quiet of home…for an evening.
20. Day at home. All through the day I celebrated that I had at least 24 hours before guests would arrive. It didn’t matter that I needed to do cleaning or make sure the sheets in the guess bedroom were fresh. It was very good to be home again.
21. Catching up. All the email and news feeds and laundry and mail….the little things that stack up when one is away from home and/or too busy. I celebrated that I got everything caught up except the news feeds before guests arrived.
22. Butterflies. The butterfly display is in full swing at Brookside Gardens conservatory. Even single butterflies are often worth celebrating; this display is almost overwhelming in that regard! I experimented with some video. One turned out particularly well and I may include it in my upcoming post.
23. Mount Vernon. In recent years, I’ve only gone when guests have requested…and enjoy it every time. There have been a lot of changes. The most recent is the addition of a theater with special effects (vibrating seats and snow falling) to dramatize events of the Revolutionary War. The place is definitely worth celebrating. I’ll eventually take a look at the pictures from the day a post about the visit.
24. Time to take naps. I don’t normally nap but June finally wore me out. Fortunately - it happened on a day I could take a nap in the morning….and another in the afternoon!
25. Anticipating getting back to normal. I am finally looking at some weeks without travel or external plans. The mundane activities of grocery shopping and mopping the kitchen floor are quite appealing.
26. Catching up - again. I am working off the items in inboxes and news feeds…even finishing up some Coursera work. It is thrilling to mark off items and realize that I can probably stay caught up….until the next time I have a series of days like ‘June 2013.’

Brookside Gardens - June 2013

Brookside Gardens in June: lush greenery of ferns, azaleas and rhododendron mostly over as are the peonies, the lotus are still just leaves, the southern magnolias have buds, the foxglove grow up a hillside, the hibiscus and angel trumpet have been moved outside, the papyrus fills a high corner of the conservatory.

My favorite find of the day was some hollyhocks. I remember them blooming near the side porch of a great aunt - so I thought of her today.

Enjoy the Brookside slideshow for June 2013!

Brookside Gardens - May 2013

Brookside Gardens was brimming with greenery and late spring flowers. I was there are on a sunny but breezy spring day. The layers of greenery were everywhere but I liked this scene the best: 

• The shiny leaves of a Southern magnolia in the left foreground then
• Looking over the hedge surrounding the garden to
• The arbor with spent a wisteria vine whose blossoms have been overcome by green leaves to
• The rounded shape of a willow and then
• The trees beyond….and
• The blue sky backdrop. 

Gardens are experienced with as much knowledge and observational energy we care to apply. For me - it is more about the visual appeal of the place and noticing the way plants have changed since the last time I walked around. The deciduous magnolias that were so full of blooms in April are full of green leaves now. Their Southern Magnolia cousins are just beginning to have buds. The beds of tulips are cleared for summer plantings (the gardeners were at work in the dirt while I was there). The almost hidden plants like a single flower standing out in the undergrowth or a hairy fern just unfurling are like finding hidden treasure.

I do not attempt to remember the name of everything I see. Surprising - I have come to recognize many of the plants over the years. I am pleased that I look for - and find - Jack-in-the-Pulpits almost every year but usually they are in undisturbed woodlands rather than gardens. This year there were quite a few at Brookside and they looked like they had been planted!  

Brookside has quite a collection of azaleas and rhododendron and I enjoy every year. Poppies are increasingly popular. The gingko tree near the entrance is a tree I always check; the shape of their leaves, the way the leaves flutter in the slightest breeze, the lighter green in the spring and summer then yellow in fall….it is probably my favorite tree of the gardens.

Enjoy the May 2013 at Brookside slide show!

Brookside Gardens - April 2013

In mid-April - the deciduous magnolias were the highlight of Brookside Gardens. They come in many varieties although they are generally pink or white. The petals are generally large although there is one that had petals that curled like ribbons. Many times the petals are pink on the outside and white on the inward facing surface. Healthy trees are dense with blooms on otherwise bare branches.

The grounds were covered with new growth. Fiddleheads and native plants are coming up through the mulch everywhere in the gardens.

The tulips were just beginning to open and many of them looked like they had been damaged by the extremely cold weather in late March. I am always drawn to the blending of the yellow and orange tulip petals in the sunlight.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - March 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

A day at home. Even though I am not away from home as much as I was at the height of my career, there are still times that I welcome just being at home for a whole day. It is probably my favorite place to be.

A winter’s day at Brookside Gardens. The conservatories were pleasantly warm. And the brisk walk to look for signs of spring afterward was rewarded with sights of daffodils and witch hazel.

Up-to-date on course work. I got overwhelmed for a few days with the Aboriginal Worldviews and Education course (Coursera) and celebrated when I was finally able to catch up.

Snow day. We got enough snow to make snow ice cream! It ended up being more like a smoothie because the snow was so heavy (i.e. not the light fluffy stuff).

Great Horned Owl. I’d seen pictures and read about them but had never seen one in action until seeing the raptor presentation at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The owl was well trained to swoop down for bits of food within easy viewing range of the crowd….until it spotted a bunny nearby and disappeared into the cactus and brush to enjoy its lunch.

Kratchner Caverns State Park. Kudos to the people who found it and owned the property for protecting it until the state and researchers could sustain it. This is the place to celebrate the beauty of caverns.

Airport art. Airports are often stressful places - lots of security and lines and hurry/wait flurry. Noticing the artwork helps. Mosaics…painting on glass….tiles…etchings…lights. They bring back the notion that airplane travel can be enjoyable.

Home again. After being away for a week, coming home is always a little celebration.

A clean house. My house is always reasonably clean but gets even more so when I am expecting guests. It’s worth a celebration after the work!

A warm day. Typical of spring, there was one warm day sandwiched with cold ones. It was nice to feel the warmth.

Brookside Gardens Outdoors - March 2013

My walk around Brookside Gardens this month was brisk; it was quite cold. There was some progress toward spring since last month’s walk. More twigs have brightened in color. Sometimes - it is the growth from last year that is the most brilliantly colored.

And there are more bulbs up. The snow drops are beginning to fade.

The shelf fungus on an old stump that I check from time to time had been damaged. Pieces had been torn off. I left the pieces where they were and noticed the gill structure that is so hard to see when they are still attached to the stump.

The witch hazel that was blooming last month is still blooming - a welcome bit of color among other trees that are still winter bare.

The buds on the rhododendron are swelling. They are primed for spring.

In general the scene near the front of the conservatories was a good summary of the outdoor state of Brookside in early March: cold wilted ivy, a sprinkling of daffodils, and witch hazel.

Brookside Gardens Conservatory - February 2013

The Brookside Gardens Conservatory is a warm, lush place for a pleasant winter afternoon. There are lots of colors to enjoy - dominated by greens. I always look for the spirals of ferns unfurling. There was some construction going on at the main door when I was there so it was more noticeable than usual that the smaller plants are moved around.

The tropical fruits I noticed in January - pineapple, bananas, and chocolate - were still there. And I noticed the star fruit ripening. The begonias always seem to be blooming and the variegated crotons fill their corner with their bright leaves. Camellias were full of buds - and a few early blooms. They’ll be spectacular in March. I even found myself appreciating the lettuce for its translucent green leaves with reddish margins. I usually photograph the bird-of-paradise flowers that are dominated with orange but this time I tried the white ones instead; they are very large and produced by one of the oldest plants in the conservatory.

As I was leaving Brookside an older woman ask me what there was to see at the gardens and I recommended the conservatory as a richness of plants to see and an easy walk. She was in her 90s! I hope she enjoyed her outing to Brookside Gardens.

Brookside Gardens Outdoors - February 2013

Much of Brookside Gardens is still in winter mode when I was there earlier this week - lots of browns, mulch washed onto the walkways from the last rains. It was a sunny day and large sycamore was at its winter best against the blue sky; it’s easy to identify these trees in winter with their white trunks. The snowdrops were up but most of the other bulbs were just peeking through the soil.

The small trees that were the highlight of my walk were the witch hazels which were blooming. There were at least three different flower colors - two of which are shown below.

Chocolate and Pineapple (at Brookside)

I check the banana palms every time I visit the Brookside Gardens conservatories; they usually have bananas in various stages of development. This past visit two other plans from warmer climes were bearing fruit as well:

Pineapple. I had seen pictures of the plant but had not actually seen one before. The fruit was well along in its development.

Cacao (chocolate!). I had seen a tree with the pods in another conservatory but finding one at Brookside almost hidden in the other tropical foliage was a pleasant surprise. The change in color that comes as the pods ripen was clearly visible.

Both plants are so different looking than plants that are native to Maryland. What a delight on a winter’s day to feel the warmth and be surrounded by tropical plants in the Brookside Gardens conservatory!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - January 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

Reorganized kitchen. I helped a family member re-organize their kitchen and was surprised at how easy it was to streamline their everyday cooking. Now maybe I should reorganize my own kitchen and celebrate again!

Home again. After being away for more than a month - I celebrated being at home for more than a week after returning.

Brookside Gardens. Always one of my favorite places but this time the conservatory was the celebration….flowers and lush greenery in winter.

A cold day indoors and indulging in all those introvert favorites - reading a good book, watching birds from the window, sipping hot tea laced with chocolate.

A sliver moon above the sunrise. Starting the day with a scene of beauty is such a joy.

An uncrowded grocery store. I go early to get my shopping down before a lot of other people are about. It easier to relax and read labels to buy exactly what I intend.

A sunny day. It seemed like January was going to stay cloudy, dim and cold…and then there came a sunny day. I sat in a sunny window and celebrated the brightness.

Snow. I like seasons. Snow is my favorite aspect of winter and I celebrate the beauty of it before the plows come…before the deer track up the yard.

Cream of tomato soup. Even when trying to take of some weight, good food is something to celebrate. Homemade soup is one of my favorites on a cold day.

The first day of a class feels special - so full of potential...exciting to be starting something new.

Previous ‘little celebration’ posts can be found here.

Details Seen in Photographs

In my last walk around Brookside Gardens, I took my usual large number of pictures - and then enjoyed the detail of what I captured after I got home and could look at the images on a large screen.

I didn’t notice the imperfections in the succulent pictured below when I took the picture; the colors and the frame filling shape of it was what caused me to take it. Now - it is the imperfections that cause it to be one of my favorite images from this visit to the gardens.

I held my camera upside down and took the picture below blindly - pointed upward into the angel trumpet flower. The light from the conservatory roof was bright enough to give the flower a central glow. The delicate fibers within the flower show through. The green core of the flower looks like an asterisk pinned to the stem by the flower parts and framed by the fused petals.

Did I say that it was a sunny day? The photo below is the only image in this post that was taken outdoors. The shadow and burn out areas are what makes this image a favorite for me.

Last but not least, the coiled fronds in the center of a fern. I always like to catch the spirals of nature since they are never that way for long; they’ll unfurl into the outer ring of green while new fiddleheads form in the center.

Brookside Gardens Conservatory Flowers - January 2013

The conservatories at Brookside Gardens are lush with greenery and flowers - a welcome contrast to outdoor vegetation this time of year. Begonias and bird of paradise…crown of thorns and petunias. Today is a celebration of the flowers!