Each Little World

A little Christmas in August

I thought I would write about the arrival of rain late last evening but it is raining too hard and it is too dark at 6:45 a.m. to go out and check the rain gauge. But rain in August is a lovely sound!

Mark and I spent half the day on Wednesday doing errands and a bit of fun shopping. Just before we left State Street, we dashed into A Room of One's Own bookstore to get the latest copy of The Progressive which our book club is reading this month. It'a choice that gives us a bit of a vacation from a big book and also fits better into a tighter schedule between meetings than usual. Our trip into Madison's longtime feminist bookstore for a magazine resulted in me getting four books (3 new hardcover and 1 used hardcover book) and Mark got four as well, though his group included more used books. But one of mine requires only a brief read each day and you could skip the reading if you feel like it.

I have a similar calendar book with photos by Mick Hales that is 6 inches x 9 and 1/2 inches but this one's large square 8x8 inch format makes for a bit of drama while providing room for text about a garden subject and a spot for you to write in important dates.

I was thinking I would put it away until January but Mark set it on the kitchen counter opened to the proper day. Who am I to argue that my gift to myself should wait another four and a half months before I start to use it!

If you look closely you can see that the illustration for today is a garden seat that is enclosed in a plexiglass pergola. I love the idea though I wonder if it would get hot without any openings for a breeze to blow through. Each photo in the book also gives the name/country of the garden designer. This is by Ulf Nordfjell from Sweden so maybe it never gets hot enough for plexi walls and ceiling to be an issue. 

All-in-all a delightful present that also gives me a lovely garden to look at when it is too rainy to be out in my own.

This is a new book, just published in 2018, by Prestel Publishing whose beautiful website is worth a visit. I am receiving no remuneration for this blog post. Should you decide to buy a copy, support your local independent bookseller rather than Amazon if you are able. 

IAVOM: Holiday transition

I am so pleased with this big arrangement that was in my red room for Christmas that I decided to bring it out into the light of day. I don't mind that the berries are fading and the Eucalyptus is drying up, turning pale and papery. The white pine branches are the ones that I clipped from a pile of curbside evergreen debris in December.

In this location, there's room for these big branches to take a visual breath. Plus my new blue and white vase nicely echoes Tom Sargeant's painting on the wall behind it.

I never did manage to get our wooden putti candleholder out for the holidays. Now that we're into the new year he can play cupid until we tire of him and want another change. 

I added two small wooden bowls to this grouping so cupid would not be the only brown item in the display. But then the blue and white vase looked lonely so I grabbed this Chinese bowl that has as much brown on it as blue.

At the other end of the table is another blue bowl with a bit of brown in the interior almost hidden by the white pine branches.

It wasn't until I bent down to get a shot of the blue swirls on the outside of the bowl that I realized the ceramic lamp base, the table and cupid were in their own little swirly world. 

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, stop by Rambling in the Garden. 

Art update

Mark framed eleven of my collages as my Christmas present this year. He actually started making these frames over a year ago when I created my original collages. This fall when he got back to putting the frames together, staining and waxing them, I made more collages so I would have enough to fill the frames with a couple of extra choices.

As it turned out, we decided to put a group of eight above the fireplace and one in the dining room. These are a quirky size: the frames are 13" x 15" and the collages are 5" x 5.75". That was done so they would match the collages Mark has made over the years. Initially we thought we would do a "His & Hers" display. But then we decided I could have the limelight. 

When I looked at a few of Mark's collages, I discovered that his have quite a different feel than mine even though we pulled material from the same huge pile of paper ephemera that we've stockpiled over the years. The collages below are shown in the order they are displayed above, going from top left to right and then bottom left to right. You can enlarge these images if you double click on them.

Mark pointed out that mine all tend to have a horizon line.

An artist friend noted that most of them also had circle motifs of some kind. I did realize that as I was making them and tried not to overdo it. But what are ya gonna do when a shape or color attracts you more than others? 

I've often used letter forms and text in my artwork in the past, so I knew they would show up here as well. 

Before I began, I brushed and spattered gesso on a pile of assorted papers. I definitely wanted to have pieces with my own "mark making" on them to be able to incorporate.  

The collage directly below and the last one both use 19th century photographic plant images that are from an old Metropolitan Museum calendar. I had a number of photos of me that I took in the early 1980s when there were still photo booths in the 5 and dime stores downtown on the Square. I decided that if famous artists can do self-portraits and other kinds of self-referential work, so could I!

Our paper pile includes blue prints, all kinds of handwriting bits, foreign stamps, Japanese papers — an endless supply waiting to see the light of day again.

Besides the Met Museum art and my photo, this one has leaves from our Locust tree glued on.

A new vase

It may be cold outside, but it's Monday and that means it's time for the first vase of the new year. We treated ourselves to this Japanese-influenced container just in time for the holidays.

It's one of many beautiful creations by Richard Jones of Studio Paran in Madison. We found it at the always alluring Abel Contemporary Gallery in Paoli. I would describe this as an Ikebana-type container made of darkened bamboo with a hand-blown glass insert that rises above the top of the bamboo.

I filled it with evergreens and berries for a festive holiday look. Then I spent the rest of the evening thinking it just wasn't the right arrangement for such a spare container.

The very next morning I ran out into the garden (it wasn't so cold and there was no snow on the ground) and took a cutting from our bamboo, Fargesia rufa 'Green Panda'. I replaced most of the evergreen foliage with this stem of bamboo. 

If you look closely at the photo below, you can just see the rounded and carved ball on the bottom of the glass container. It sits inside the bamboo so that its curved edge peeks through the opening. 

To see what kind of vases other gardeners have put together this morning, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this Monday meme.

Fiber Friday: A fun find!

I found this embroidered Indian textile not long ago at Passementerie in Middleton during their fall sale. That shop is always full of delicious items including my favorites: jewelry, china and textiles. Though this didn't have much info on the price tag, it appears to be a Toran, a traditional dowry item from Western India. Typically they are embroidered and appliqued and often have small mirrors worked into the design. 

It's the perfect backdrop to a few of our toys that we put on display for the holidays.

Christmas meditation

More foraged greens

I often cut a few branches of Arborvitae for holiday arrangements but I don't take winter prunings from any of my other trees or shrubs. So it was especially nice to be able to forage an assortment of greenery from the pile at the curb in my neighborhood. I curved the longer branches around this ceramic plate next to the front door. It is under the roof overhang and needed a little sparkle to make it more visible, so I added a beaded ornament.  

Then I clipped more branches to various lengths in order to make a display for the front hall in my one gallon red Haws watering. 

 The berried and variegated stems were additions from the grocery store. It looked a little too somber with just greens.

Lights for the longest night

We have a big star wrapped in lights that hangs between two windows in the room that is above our garage. Mark's Dad made it for us many years ago when we first moved into this house. 

It is an easy decoration to put up since Mark made himself a tool to help him hang it on the high hook without climbing onto the slippery slanted garage roof. I particularly like it because you can see if from a distance as you drive down our street. It's the landmark I give guests when they are coming to our house during the dark days of winter.

But what may be my favorite holiday lights in the neighborhood are right across the street from our house and visible from the kitchen window where we spend a lot of time prepping meals and doing dishes. I looked out Sunday night and could see a lighted Christmas tree on Sean and Gina's front porch. As I watched I could see a dark form moving which I realized was one of them arranging the lights and getting everything set up. When I glanced out later in the evening, I was delighted to see a pair of trees shining out into the darkness.

Sean and Gina did a great job on this holiday gift to the neighborhood. Not only did they pick trees that are the perfect size to make a statement against their big house, but they used a pair of them to complement the house's symmetry. I, for one, hope this is a new holiday tradition!

Red room holiday decor

I adore my red room but it is impossible to take good photos in there. Too dark and too much intense color. But at least these images will let me remember how I decorated this space this year. I stopped at one of our longtime local florists early in the month and found this big blue and white vase on sale for half price. 

I bought some curly orange willow branches and berried Eucalyptus but with a container this big it needed more. So I foraged three kinds of evergreens — white pine, cedar and spruce — that were tree and shrub trimmings stacked up by the curb waiting for city crews to dispose of them. After driving by them of a couple of days, I stopped with my pruners, garden gloves and garbage bags and brought home a nice assortment of greens. The next morning I drove by and discovered the street crews had done their job and they were all gone!

We moved our Thai Spirit House back into the red room from the library. It's home to Buddha, studio gods and assorted creatures.

I decorated the top of the Spirit House with bags made of cactus fiber and a Japanese one made out of a variety of fabrics.

There's an East Indian basket, Leslee Nelson's fabulous crocheted radish, and contemporary felt veggies and toys.

I added a string of lights too make the whole arrangement a little more visible and playful. Most of these items will stay on display here after the holidays, though I probably will remove the lights.

IVOM: Seasonal shift

All the browns and oranges and gourds and pods that were starring in this space for the last month or two are back in their hiding places until next year. I decided to go for a completely different look this year for my holiday decor that I display on this pair of Chinese wine tables. I wanted something warm, elegant and glowing without glitter. So I brought together all the myriad gold-toned items that lurk in corners and china cupboards the rest of the year. The first image below gives you an overview. The following pictures look at the items in more detail going from left to right.

I've had this gold rimmed bowl longer than I can remember. I originally bought it because I thought it would go well with my grandmother's stemware that is similarly edged. Over the years I've made orange and lemon pomanders as gifts and to spice up my own closets. 

This heavy brass vase has a different design on each side and a wooden stand that raises its stature. The greens and Hellebore leaf are from the garden.

The black lacquer tray holds a brass box from WWI that was given to UK soldiers that first Christmas of the War. There's also a needle case, a puffy pillow-shaped box, a reproduction antique Egyptian mirror and a brass tea strainer filled with stars. On the right side is a piece of hand-painted jewelry with a gold-colored frame. It's meant to be worn as a brooch but I am always worried about losing it so it never leaves home. I think of all the items on this tray as toys for grown-ups.

Moving down the table is a gold plate that my sisters and I bought for our mom on her 50th wedding anniversary as it matched a vase that was one of her wedding gifts. On the plate are tiny accordion poetry books with gold-leaf covers. The pair of British brass candlesticks were one of the last things we bought when one of our favorite local antique stores closed. The picture frame holds two photos of Mark at an early childhood Christmas. At the far right are a Japanese tea container and a bowl with gold-wrapped candies.

Baby Mark celebrates in 1948!

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase or around their homes this holiday season, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this meme.