Alstroemeria

There is so little color outdoors in the Maryland winter that I sometimes give in and buy a bouquet of flowers along with my groceries. My favorite is probably alstroemeria. They have a relatively long vase-life (longer than roses).

I put them in a vase on the table and inevitably try macro shorts. The petal markings and venation are easy to capture.

And now I am thinking about whether I want to try planting some in garden in the spring. It may be a bit too cold to leave them in the ground over the winter here in Maryland so I may plant them in pots that I can easily bring indoors.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in January 2013

The temperature was in the 20s on the morning I walked around our yard this month. There was still frost on the ground - coating the hardest of weeds that are green (lower left). The cairn of rock and shells (upper right) has been knocked over by foraging deer; I left the toppled pieces for another day. Most of the seeds from the onion have scattered (upper left) and the seed casings are tattered. Surprisingly the tulip poplar (middle left) seems full of the dried remnants of flowers and seeds from last spring. The trunk of our oak tree (bottom right) has smooth areas from its younger self.

Winter is the starkest of seasons. Every color that breaks the monotony of browns is appreciated: the blue of the sky, the green of a weed, the white of an old shell. Now, as I write this post, I am looking at the maple from my window and noticing a little movement of the branches from a breeze and am glad I am in the warmth of the indoors.

Rose Hips

A few weeks ago - one of the views from the hospital window was an open area with rust colored trees and green grass. A few days ago I found myself in the area. It was in front of the outpatient building of the hospital. The rust colored foliage was mostly on the tiles of the walk.

I had not been able to see the rosebushes from the hospital window - but from the ground they were the high point of small area. The cold temperatures of the last week or so had dried some of the roses in place and the rose hips were a nice orange to contrast with the yellow of the dried roses.

Finding a small beautiful place among the cluster of buildings was a great way to end the flurry of medical appointments.

Roses and Rosemary

Usually ferns or baby’s breath is used in the filler around long stem roses. My sister recently chose to buy flowers that completed the color of the roses and then trimmed the rosemary plant in the garden to add extra greenery. It looked great and adding the rosemary smell to that of the roses was very appealing as well! Rosemary is now on my list to plant in my garden in the spring.

I am babying the rosemary I kept in a pot on my deck through last summer…so I might be able to just plant it as soon as the weather warms enough in Maryland.

The First of 2013

I did not stay up to celebrate the first minutes of 2013. I enjoy getting up to see the first sunrise instead (although it was cloudy so I took the picture at the left of wind chimes and winter trees at the time of 'sunrise').

New beginnings are so full of potential. Just as sunrise is a prompt to review the plan for the day, New Year’s day is a good prompt for writing some goals for the upcoming year. This year I am using a start - stop - continue grouping. I’ve learned over the years to include specific ways to measure the goal in the goal statement itself or as an associated note.  Here are some examples from my list for 2013.

Start 

• Losing the last few pounds to get down into the ‘normal’ range for my height by April 1.
• Upgrading landscaping and garden around the house by early summer

Stop 

• Drinking soft drinks (diet Pepsi is my downfall!)

Continue 

• Volunteering with the Friends of a local nature center (4-8 hours per week).
• Reading about even numbers of fiction - history - arts/social - technical books at about the same rate as previous years.
• Writing 3000 words per day when I am at home.
• Gardening in pots on the deck
• Using travel or hosting guests to break up the year.
  • Monthly visits to public gardens or conservatories
  • Tucson in the early spring
  • House guests in the early spring
  • South Carolina in the early summer
  • West Virginia in the fall