Holiday Decorations at Belmont

The Howard County Conservancy hosted a Colonial Holiday Celebration at Belmont yesterday. I volunteered to help with set up and registration so had enough time before the event started to photograph some of the decorations that partner organizations had created in the first floor room. They had done a fabulous job. There were lots of good ideas to consider for some future Christmas decorating: cranberries at the end of narrow ribbons hanging from the chandelier, a bowl of cranberries; garlands of pine boughs, cones, and boxwood; magnolia leaves and dried hydrangea flowers in an unused fireplace; arrangements of oranges studded with cloves, apples and pineapples; homemade ornaments of dried apple slices, whole pomegranates drying, dough handprints; greenery tied to everything with narrow red ribbon; popcorn and cranberry garland.

It was close to sunset by the time I left. The windows of the house glowed in the soft evening light.

Looking in the other direction the horizon glowed with color, the pond reflects the trees, and the magnolia in from of the house stands sentinel.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - September 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each dayis an easy thing for me to do. 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’ - as had been the usual for the past few months. Here are my top 10 for September 2014.

Lingering summer foods. I savored the yellow tomatoes and watermelon this month - knowing that the will not be fresh from local fields very soon.

Great Falls of the Potomac. There is something about re-visiting sights and sounds close to home. It has been several years since I’d walked around the place. I’m already planning another outing once the leaves begin to turn.

Belmont is another place close to home. I had been there a few times but not enough. It is a place to savor.

BioBlitz at Belmont. I was volunteer naturalist for 3 of 4 days of the BioBlitz. It was exhilarating and exhausting!  There was a lot to celebrate but most memorable was the joy the 5th and 7th graders had in discovering and insect or plant or bird that they hadn’t noticed before.

Mating Insects. It’s that time of year it seems. As part of the BioBlitz we saw ladybugs and wheelbugs….getting ready for overwintering of their kind. It’s a celebration of the continuity of nature.

Symmetry - furniture - motion. Last month I celebrated symmetry and tiles - something I was learning about in a Coursera course. This month - now toward the end of the course - there was a section on symmetry in furniture. The designed talked about his work and showed examples when the motion of the furniture is real and others when it is a visual deception. I was intrigued and delighted!

Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was one of the first poets to be discussed in the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course I am taking via Coursera. I find myself celebrating the memory of my changing perception of the poet between my high school days and now.

Mint…and more mint. I’m celebrating my mint crop this year….and will savor it all winter long as hot mint tea.

A rainy day. Sometimes a rainy day is just what I need; there was only one rainy day in September and I celebrated staying indoors and at home. It’s good for recovering ones balance - ready for whatever comes next.

Leggings. I found some denim leggings at the thrift store that appeared new….and they fit me perfectly. A bargain worth celebrating!

Belmont

I’ve participated in several programs at the Belmont Manor and Historic Park as a Howard County Conservancy Volunteer over the past month. September is a good month to see maturing seeds - in the trees: Maple

Dogwood

And sweet gum.

There are other plants going to seed: grasses

And fluffy seed pods in the meadows.

The flowers are mostly done for the year although I did photograph a chicory that was growing at the edge of mowed path.

But it is the very air of the place - looking up to into an old sycamore,

The top branches of other trees,

And starlings swirling - that is the most special.

Belmont is a place with a long history and one looks out from the mansion that is somehow not as important as the vista.