The Day after Christmas 2013

What is your usual activity for the day after Christmas? I am realizing that I do have a few traditions for this day.

I write thank you notes. This year they are all e-mails rather than cards send through snail mail.

I shop after Christmas sales. This year I am steering clear of wrapping paper and Christmas cards - but will pick up dark chocolate and nuts if the clearance price is good. If the holiday patterned ziplocks are priced less than the regular ones, I’ll do that too. I’m looking for sheets too - sometimes those sales are so good that there are none left by the time I get to store. I’m not an early bird shopper after Christmas.

I begin eating the leftovers. It happens every year: more food is prepared than can actually be eaten on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I pick up around the house. This mostly consists of packing away gift bags and recycling wrapping paper. In past years I’ve packed up tissue paper along with the gift bags but this year it too is going into the recycling bin. Sometimes there are still presents unwrapped the previous day that need to be stowed….increasing the ‘stuff’ we’ve accumulated.

By the end of the day after Christmas the house still looks festive and the lights still glow on the tree - and we are enjoying the lull between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

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.

Christmas Stuff - Part 3 - 2013

Wrapping paper has accumulated in the Christmas stuff over the years. It's as much a part of Christmas as food and ornaments.

There was a stash of wrapping paper a previous owner had left in a house we moved into 30 years ago. I bought paper from fund raisers when my daughter was in elementary school about 15 years ago. Sometimes I couldn’t resist paper on sale after Christmas. My willpower has improved in the past 5 years so I have NOT bought more paper - but the number of rolls has not gone down either. I have tended to use gift bags - recycled year after year - rather than wrapping boxes. This year I am determined to use up paper….and maybe box up some or all that is left to donate to charity.

Aside from wrapping larger boxes rather than using a gift bag - I have a few other ideas for the paper.

• I have started using the smaller pieces of paper to wrap very small boxes (that are empty) and stash them in a small sleigh that sits by the tree. There is some nostalgia about wrapping paper and bows that this satisfies and it can be packed away for years to come as part of our normal decorations for the holiday rather than actual gifts.
• The island in the kitchen would look good with a runner of paper down the center.
• The mantle could be decorated with a cut paper garland - maybe a snowflake pattern.

Or maybe I can just wait until we move from the house and leave the stash of paper for the next owner.

The Busy-ness of December

Here we are in the early part of December - the prospect for a flurry of activity looming with a higher probability than a flurry of snow. Here’s a list of things for the month (so far): 

• Decorating the house.
• Writing an annual Christmas note to include with our Christmas cards (a general one for most….individual note for a few).
• Volunteering at a local non-profit’s holiday sale.
• Taking my husband to the airport for an early morning flight….then picking him up five days later from a late flight back.
• Deciding on gifts for family and friends…buying…wrapping…sending/delivering.
• Re-caulking the shower base in the master bathroom.
• Donate boxes of used books and VHS tapes.
• Finishing all Coursera courses I’ve started.
• Preparing the house for company.
• Shopping for holiday foods - red velvet cake is at the top of my list right now.
• Viewing the holiday light display at a local garden.
• Seeing the new Hobbit movie. 

Does it all have to happen in December? Not all of it….but I’m so jazzed by the holiday season that I always get more done in December than just about any month of the year!

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving prompts me to think about:

• What I am thankful for
• Traditions 

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving Day is the annual prompt to take stock - to acknowledge and appreciate. Are the aspects of our lives for which we are thankful also the aspects that contribute to our feelings of happiness? For me - I think they are. And Thanksgiving Day 2013 finds me celebrating an abundance of good vibes:

Family (husband, daughter, parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins). Most of the family is far away this Thanksgiving but 2013 has been a better year than 2012 - the trend is good and I’m thankful for that.

Health. Feeling well enough to do all the things that make life wonderful ---- it’s not something I take for granted. I’m thankful.

Coursera. I am hooked on the many offerings from Coursera. It seems like I have 3 or 4 going almost all the time. The topics, quality of presentation, and cost (generally free) are all worth being thankful. It is one of the areas of technology that I appreciate without any reservations.

Volunteer work for Neighbor Ride and Howard Country Conservancy. I am thankful for non-profit organizations in my community that provide me with a meaningful way to give back to my community by volunteering. Somehow volunteering has more personal meaning than simply donating money.

Home. Every time I travel I realize how thankful I am to have a home to welcome me back. Coming back from Florida just a few days before Thanksgiving means that we are cleaning house first thing Thanksgiving Day…and then relaxing to have our feast.

Traditions

There are activities that are like clockwork this time of year

Three cobs of Indian corn are hung on the front door. They are over 5 years old but dried corn lasts a long time. I like the colors - the dark, muted colors of fall - against our dark green door.

Food

Brisket cooking in the crockpot. My husband does not like turkey so we cook something else that will result in a lot of left overs - a brisket. It totally fills the crockpot. Our big meal with be in the evening so I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to start the main course like I did when we were eating the feast at midday.

Cranberry orange relish from the Wegmans recipe. This was a tradition started last year. I liked this relish so much that I’ll never make the old boiled cranberries in sugar recipe ever again.

Pumpkin custard and baked potatoes and cooked in the same oven. We always make custard rather than pie and, since our family is small, the custard goes into the oven 1.5 hours before meal time at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Then at 1.25 hours before meal time the potatoes go into the oven as it gets turned down to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The custard is done about 0.5 hours before meal time and is taken out to cool.

Old videos. This is the new ‘tradition’ starting this year. We’re going to dig out 20 year old videos of our daughter as a young child - to recall a trip to Florida from that time in our lives and contrast the Florida of 2013. Next year we’ll look at some other old videos.

Pervious Thanksgiving posts 

• 2011
• 2012

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 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 November 2013 - grouped into themes.

Seasonal Food

Pumpkin bake. One way I celebrate fall is to bake a whole pumpkin. It happens almost every year. The one this year was a little larger than usual - purchased at Home Depot; it was a bright orange decoration for our front porch for a few weeks before I decided to cook it. The color deepened after it baked for an hour or so. I cut a wedge, scooped away the seeds and stringy part from the center, and enjoyed it drizzled with butter and cinnamon. Then I divided the rest of the usable pulp into smaller portions - half for the freezer and half for more immediate pumpkin related celebrations.

Pumpkin and Yogurt Custard. It’s worth celebrating when a culinary experiment works; this one did although I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I roughly followed the pumpkin custard recipe but used plain non-fat yogurt rather than milk, a non-calorie granular sweetener, and more eggs than usual. It developed a sugary crust that was very appealing!

Pumpkin and Ginger Scones. I had never made scones before but decided to try the recipe I posted in my gleanings a few weeks ago. There are two causes to celebrate: these particular scones are really good and scones are incredibly easy to make in a food processor (why did it take me so long to discover this?).

Pumpkin seed oil. It’s green! It’s yummy! I’ve started drizzling it over a mini-pita - making a fancy design like they do in high end restaurants.

Pomegranate. In the past few years - pomegranates have become part of the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration for me. It is their season to be plentiful in the stores and I like to think of them as the ‘jewels’ of the season.

Outdoors in the Fall

Foliage. The play of colors in the forest is the grand celebration before winter starkness.

Hike to the Patapsco. Walking through fields and forest on a crisp fall day is a more active way to celebrate the season.

Elementary School Nature Field Trips. I celebrated during every hike I led for elementary school field trips over the past month. What a privilege it is to share their first experiences: milkweed, black walnuts, wooly caterpillars, maple leaves changing color, the rocks of a stone wall between fields.

Raking Leaves. I prefer raking to blowing the leaves that fall too thickly on the ground. Raking is quiet work so I hear the birds and squirrels while I enjoy the leaves that still retain their color. They smell like rich forest tea the leaf mulch will become over the winter. There is a nostalgic celebration in raking leaves since the activity is the beginning of the end for fall.

Amanda Cross mysteries. I always celebrate finding a new author. All three Cross books I’ve read so far area already favorites….and there 11 more to go!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - October 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 October 2013.

Everything fit into the suitcases. Once the packing is done….the realization that everything needed for a vacation actually fit into the suitcases is worth a celebration.

Utah. Actually this celebration lasted for 8 days. Even though the national parks were closed there was still a lot to enjoy: the aspens in the Abejo Mountains, Edge of Cedars State Park, Monument Valley, Dead Horse Point State Park, Wilson’s Arch, La Sal Mountains, Needles Overlook and Valley of the Gods. Travel expands horizons - in more than just the physical sense - and provides a myriad of opportunities for celebration.

Home again. Much as I enjoy traveling, coming home is always savored.

Rainy day. I’m not sure why - but a rainy day that keeps be indoors after days away from home is just perfect. I celebrated with a good book and hot tea….while moving the loads of laundry from suitcases to baskets to washer to drier.

Caught up with Coursera courses. There were 4 courses that were ongoing while I was in Utah which meant there was a lot of lecture and resource review once I got back. I felt a real sense of accomplishment once I caught up - and celebrated with some dark chocolate.

Hot tea laced with apple cider. Some beverages seem to go with fall. Apple cider is one of them for me. It’s too sweet at full strength so I use it as sweetener for hot tea. It’s another way to celebrate the season.

Out and about. The fall is one of my favorite times to be out and about the local neighborhood. This year the trees seem to reach peak color and then drop their leaves very quickly. I celebrate when I see a tree full of yellows and reds - knowing the vision is a transitory one.

Vicarious celebration. My daughter achieved a milestone in graduate school. The celebration was hers….but I celebrated vicariously.

Cranberry orange relish. This is another fall favorite. I use the recipe from Wegmans with some modification: two oranges instead of one and stevia instead of sugar.

Finding a dental discount plan. My dental insurance expired…but my dentist suggested a discount plan available from the dentalplans.com site....and I had a good checkup too!

Favorite Foods through the Years

Foods are often linked to particular time periods in our lives - and the associations last a lifetime. For me they are all positive associations that come flooding into my consciousness when I buy the foods and when I eat them. Here are a few examples from my life:

Pork chops. When I was in early elementary school, my favorite meat was pork chops fixed by my grandmother. She always fixed extra for me because I ate 2 or 3 as part of my meal. Now I buy thin sliced, boneless pork chops - and am still trying to recapture the way my grandmother make her pork chops taste.

Watermelon, cantaloupe and corn-on-the-cob - picked fresh from the garden. These were from the gardens of both my grandparents from my earliest memories through late elementary school. The watermelon, cantaloupe and corn-on-the-cob overwhelmed my senses completely; I don’t really remember what else we ate. Now I buy them from a local farmers market or the produce section of the grocery store. On occasions, the taste approaches that in my memory.

Fried fish. From late elementary school through my early 20s, I consistently selected deep fried white fish when I went to a cafeteria. I never got anything else. It wasn’t that I didn’t like other foods at the cafeteria (usually a Furr’s or Luby’s), but I never even considered getting anything else. I haven’t been to a cafeteria for years but I think I would get deep fried white fish now if they had it.

Texas toast. Do you remember those toasted inch thick pieces of white bread, slathered with garlic butter? They were big in the 70s at steak places. I think I enjoyed the toast almost more than the steak! I rarely eat food like that anymore….but I still remember celebrating a monthly or quarterly anniversary of my wedding at a place that served Texas toast.

Red velvet cake. I like the look of the cake more than the taste most of the time. Somehow the bakery versions never taste quite as good as the cake my Mother made from scratch….but I still try to find a good one almost once a year.

Fajitas. I liked fajitas from the first time I had them in the late 70s at a table on the patio of a restaurant in San Antonio. I still like them now although I expect a higher quality of meat (and maybe meat other beef) and I have them with salad rather than tortillas.

Dark chocolate. I started using two squares of dark chocolate as a reward for taking my vitamins in the morning a few years ago. Now I use it as a reward for being within my ideal weight range first thing in the morning (which happens most mornings). I’m pretty sure that it will never get old.

Celebrate your favorite foods through the years of your life today!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - September 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.

Classes. The quality of the courses I’m taking on Coursera is excellent. I celebrate the first week of courses --- when it becomes obvious how good it is going to be --- and then when something unexpected is offered. The ‘Meet the Researcher’ segment of the Animal Behavior course is one such serendipity.

My weight. I finally - after more than 20 years - I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight!

Good food. This month I discovered how yummy baked yogurt custard can be - and also enjoyed the best splurge around: a very chocolaty brownie.

Clothes. The t-shirt dresses were so comfortable for the warm days of the month and I discovered that many clothes I pulled out for the cooler days fit better than they did last year (or are too big!).

Books. September was a month I savored some books from authors I’d enjoyed before (May Sarton and Kinky Friedman) and discovered the Amanda Cross mysteries.

Longwood Gardens. Every time we make the trek to these gardens is a treat. You’ve seen evidence of how much I enjoyed the outing in September in the blog posts.

HC Conservancy. It’s always worth celebrating finding another place close enough to home that it can be visited on a regular basis.

Fabulous fall weather. September has been full of perfect days to be outdoors.

Change. I intentionally turned off the computer for hours at a time throughout the month to force some change in my days….and enjoyed the difference!

Visual richness. We aren’t in the colorful part of fall yet but there were two images of September than stand out: a corn field ready for harvest near our neighborhood and a zinnia in a small vase beside my computer monitor. 

Happy Labor Day!

Summer is the only season that is bracketed by holidays for most people in the U.S.: Memorial Day is the beginning and Labor Day is the end. And so - today is a closing for summer 2013. Swimming pools will be closing and schools have started.

The food we enjoy on Labor Day is often a celebration of the fruits of summer - corn on the cob, watermelon, tomatoes. And being outdoors to cook and eat is often part of the day. This year we are substituting cantaloupe for the watermelon…but the theme holds. I noticed that our neighborhood was noisy with lawn mowers and blowers on Saturday but was quiet on Sunday and Labor Day; we all got our chores done early and had two days to enjoy!

There is a psychology that is ingrained by the school calendar. It lingers long after we finish school - even after our responsibilities to get own children to school have ended. The ‘back to work’ focus of the time after Labor Day may last a lifetime. In my career I often thought September and October were my most focused and productive of the year. In 2013 I am reverting to a ‘school’ mentality and taking a lot of classes. Two are already underway and a third starts this week. Today I am savoring the calm before getting back into the flurry of academics.

Wishing everyone a happy Labor Day!

Chicory - the Blue along the Roadside

One of the botanical surprises when I move from Texas to Maryland many years ago were the small blue flowers that grew in the weeds at the roadsides: chicory. Sometimes chicory grows between segments of curb; a crack in the pavement is enough to give them purchase. They bloom profusely in our area after rains or heavy dew throughout the summer. Even in the places where the weeds are mowed, the chicory survives. The plants simply grow low - spread out rather than up - and continue to grow new buds and bloom for all the warmer months of the year.

I walked to a weedy area to take these pictures and got an added bonus for the walk: seeing one of the few monarchs of the season. It celebrated while taking a picture of it. The monarch butterflies are not as common in our area as they were years ago. The milkweed plants that they like to lay their eggs on are not seen as frequently either.

Gladiolus

A few days ago I looked down on the back yard from the deck and noticed some small mushrooms in the grass. As I went down the stairs to take a closer look, there was a gladiolus with a spire of near perfect blooms in our overgrown garden! It was promptly cut and taken upstairs to my office.

Gladiolus are flowers that I’ve enjoyed for a long time. My grandparents grew them in their garden when I was a child. A large vase of them stood on the tea cart under my grandmother’s portrait all during the summer season.

I planted the bulbs years ago in my Maryland garden and then ignored them. Their hardiness is one of the things to like about them. The blooms lowest on the stalk unfurl first; when cut just after the first one begins to open, the stems will draw enough water to support the opening of all the buds - which makes for a long lasting display. I prefer a single stalk with a few leaves in a bud vase. There is something quite elegant about the tall slender shape.

I am celebrating gladiolus today.

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.’

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - May 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:

Peonies at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The whole garden was special but the peonies were the highlight. See the post here.

Rhododendron at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Lots of beautiful plants and glass artwork…but the rhododendron were at their best. See the post here.

A balanced diet day that met 90% nutritional requirements from food. I started recording me food intake on cronometer.com and learned very quickly that there was room for improvement. First I got the protein/carbs/fat percentages aligned to the recommendation (when I started, fat was overwhelming carbs too frequently); then I started to improve the percentage of nutritional targets I achieved with food (from the low 80s to low 90s). It has be more of a learning experience than I anticipated - and a very positive one.

New camera. I am thoroughly enjoying my new camera (a Canon PowerShot SX280 HS). See some blog posts about it here and here.

Planting seedlings grown in egg shells. I planted some seedlings started in egg shells that are doing well in pots on the deck. See the gleanings post that gave me the idea.

Lowest weight of the year; highest stock market day of the year. These may seem like unrelated metrics but they are both items I monitor daily. It is a day to celebrate when they both move in the right direction on the same day.

Horseshoe crabs at Sandy Point State Park. The view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge would have been the highlight for me if the day had not been so misty. Instead I flipped over a horseshoe crab that had stranded itself upside down on the beach and celebrated that is crawled back into the water. I’ll be doing a post about the park in a few days.

Osprey, barn swallows, and immature bald eagle at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. I cannot pick which of the three birds I enjoyed spotting more! I’ll have a blog post in a few days.

Blue grosbeak and egrets at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. The surprise of seeing a purple grosbeak in the wild for the first time was quite a high point…but then the myriad egrets and their antics took the stage. Pictures will be posted in a few days.

Finding a surprise iris in my garden. I thought I had moved all the iris bulbs from the back garden that had gotten too shady to the front garden where they would get more sun. It worked - they are booming in profusely in their new flower bed but I found on lone flower in the back flower bed….a missed bulb that managed to bloom even in the shade. I celebrated its survival.

March 2013 Snow

We got the best snow of the season yesterday in our area of Maryland. It clung to the trees until the little breezes and temperature caused it to plop to the ground or trickle away. One of the early pictures of the day was of the dense oak twigs piled high with snow (to the left). It looks like a black and white abstract drawing to me.

We went out for a drive to enjoy the beauty of the snow. I liked the way the snow clung to the dry grasses from last summer with the flocked spruce in the background. It was a shot from an open window - the car simply stopped in the middle of a country road.

When we got back from the outing, we made snow ice cream: fill a large bowl with snow, add milk (I used half-and-half that I had frozen from an early time when snow was forecast but didn’t materialize), 1 cup of sugar, and flavoring (I used 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon coconut). I add red food coloring so that I can tell when everything is thoroughly mixed. With an electric mixer it only takes a few minutes to create the treat.

By the afternoon the wind and melting had revealed red maple blooms and the hyacinth bed.

This was a year that the groundhog got it wrong….we are not having an early spring. With the snow scenes so beautiful and the streets cleared easily, I could simply celebrate the beauty of the day, take photos and remember that spring will be here soon.  

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.

Sandwiched Matriarch

Are you a sandwiched matriarch - one with an elderly mother and a daughter in the stress of early or mid-career? I am. And I am celebrating that I can play the role of the luscious center to the sandwich. It’s exhilarating to realize that I can be the glue that mends whatever needs develop in the generation before and after my own.

Many women live into their 80s or 90s…and that means that their daughters are often in their 50s and 60s. Even a healthy elder requires more support from their children than they did when they were in their 60s and 70s. For example, my mother opted not to drive after her 80th birthday; it was a proactive decision on her part. My sisters and I supported the idea and its ramifications. We have also become much more knowledgeable about maneuvering through the health care system and support mechanisms for older people. The goal is to keep our mothers active and engage in our lives for as long as possible. I particularly enjoy the challenge to make the most of my mother’s current interest and physical ability to see things like the annual cherry blossoms around the Washington Monument and large museums. We need to learn to accept the sometimes rapid changes in older people as easily as we accept the growth of young children; we cannot let the relative stability of mid-life set the standard expectation as a person passes into their 80s and 90s. There has already been one instance when I was away from home for more than a month to help my mother through a difficult health issue.

I also have a career oriented daughter. She lives far away; phone calls and emails are not the same as seeing her in person. At least one vacation a year is planned around a time that I can spend some time with her. And the interaction will come much greater if she and her husband decide to have children. I’ve already committed to being close enough to be the child care provider so that my daughter can continue in her career. It’s an advantage I can give that benefits her and the next generation. I had my own career as she was growing up; the child care we employed for her was excellent - but I can do even better for her children and it is something I want to do.

The sandwiched matriarch gets pulled or squashed (a stressful time either way) if both mother and daughter have concurrent needs. That has not happened so far in my life….and I’ll just deal with it if and when it does.

Ten days of Little Celebrations - February 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:

Sweet potato with cinnamon. The smell of cinnamon wafting through the kitchen on a winter’s evening….its flavor melding with the sweet potato to make the vegetable the high point of the meal. It’s just a bonus that the rich orange of the sweet potato make is visually appealing too.

Low weight and high 401K. Having two metrics trend in the desired direction on the same day is something to celebrate!

Being a matriarch now rather than in 1913. I posted about this thought on the day I was celebrating. Even with the acrimonious political situation in the country right now - there are so many advantages to living now rather than 100 years ago.

A rainy day at home. Sometimes a gray day spent at home has such a huge recuperative power that it is worth celebrating.

A flock of blue jays. The jays looked like a cohort that had spent the winter together….and not a very easy one. They were scruffy looking. For all that - their morning chatter was cheerful and it enjoyed their presence on a cold day through the window.

Sounds of melting snow. The snow was only a little over an inch on the ground and rooftops but the temperature climbed so rapidly one the snow came up that the gurgling of water in the gutters and drain spouts….the plops of snow falling from branches….it sounded very much like a harbinger of spring.

Plans for travel. I enjoy travel but this month I’ve realized that I enjoy the planning and anticipation too. I’m celebrating that…..and looking forward to travels coming in the spring.

Dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is a food I celebrate every day because it is the treat I don’t give up completely no matter how strict the diet I pick for the day.

Nature Center Friends group. Finding a good fit for volunteer efforts is always something to celebrate. I found mine working with a Friends group for a local nature center.

Majesty of tall trees swaying in the wind. The trees of the forest behind our house are quite tall. They are dominated by tulip poplars. Their tops move significantly in the winds but - so far - they have all stayed upright. I suspect that the trees are supported by being in a forest rather than alone in a yard. Seeing the bare branches move against the sky is a celebration of life on earth reaching outward while still bound to the planet.

Aloe Blooming

The aloe plant I purchased for my daughter when she went off to college (and returned to me when it got too big for her apartment) has been repotted several times in its 5 years with us - and now it is blooming again. The first time it bloomed was in mid-summer when it was out on the deck. After it finished blooming, many small aloes came up around it. We bought a larger pot and separated some of the small ones from the parent as we moved it to the larger pot. The next time it bloomed was almost a year ago in May when it was still indoors. It was quite a challenge to move it outdoors with its tall spindly bloom while the painters were working! Now it is blooming in February - while it is trapped indoors (the picture to the left was taken 1/24 and the one to the right was taken on 2/9). The dried remains of the stall and bloom from last year are still standing too.

The blooms are mostly green but this time of year I appreciate any color other than brown. I am celebrating that I have something blooming before the hyacinths and crocus this year!

Celebrating 40 Years

My husband and I are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this month. The actual day is not that important. It is not the anniversary of the wedding we value…it is the 40 years we’ve had so far and the prospect of the years to come. I am savoring the little celebrations all month long. 

• The being home again after being away for almost 6 weeks
• The cut flowers on the table
• The savoring of Christmas decorations as they are put away
• The seasonably cold and unseasonably warm days - particularly the sunny ones
• The sunrises
• My husband finally recovering from a bad cold (or maybe it was the flu)
• Planning a ‘spring break’ trip 

The best of it all is realizing that we both made a very good decision 40 years ago!