Each Little World

IVOM: By the book

Late last fall Typepad did some kind of massive update that screwed up my blog for a week or so. At first I was annoyed and frantic. Once I calmed down I began to think about what I might do with my unexpected free time.

In December of 2020 I made a 20-page magazine via Blurb.com. "A Christmas Miscellany" contained old family photos, pictures of my holiday decor and three family-related Christmas stories I'd originally written as newspaper columns back when I worked at a daily paper. I gave the book as a Christmas present to my sisters, nieces and nephew and a few close friends.

I was so pleased with my Christmas effort that I stared a 48 page 7" x 7" book called "The White Album." It was going to be white flowers and winter garden shots. 

I abandoned it when I got too busy with other things. Now I looked it up again and decided to finish it. Luckily I found a few notes I'd saved that helped me figure out everything I forgotten in the two years since I last made a book. 

I finished that book and did two others between Oct. 25 and Nov. 17. I did these just for me; a way to remember hundreds of moments in my garden for the day when I am no longer living in the midst of it. 

Back cover of the autumn book. This is also 7" x 7" and runs 152 pages. 

IVOM is the third in this 7" x 7" series of garden books. It is 140 pages. I'm not sure how many more I will do at this size, but I expect at least a couple more to showcase spring and summer in the garden. 

Currently I'm working on a small one about our ducks and a 6" x 9" book on "The Sweet History of my Dining Table." They are very satisfying projects that also include learning a new computer program, taking new photos and finding old photos from the blog that need to be resized. Like any art project it's all about the process.

HOW THIS ALL BEGAN:

Mark had two of his photos selected for a competitive exhibit this past fall. We went to the opening and stayed for the excellent lecture by the judge, Aline Smithson. I was particularly struck when she pointed out that my generation is the last one to have had the experience of shooting film, taking the roll to the local drugstore to get it developed, followed by the thill of picking it up and discovering what we had captured — or didn't.

She also emphasized how technology is constantly changing and there is no guarantee that we will be able to access our images when we want them again. Prints — real, physical prints on paper — are the only archival way to retain our treasured images. 

Mark has done almost 30 books of all different sizes, kinds of paper and subjects. I decided it was time to join him; though I consider mine more like scrapbooks than photographic art publications. They are essentially vanity publications but I am happy with them; knowing that I can look at my house and garden when and wherever I want once my images are committed to paper. 

You can look through my books page by page without buying them if you are curious. Here's a link to see the three I've recently done. Click on the preview link and full-screen. You can also find Mark's books on Blurb.com here. Scroll down to see them all.

Holiday trees

We got a holiday card from the group of arborists that take care of our trees. This is the wonderful quote from Wisconsin's legendary environmentalist, Aldo Leopold, that was inside their card.

“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods

and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent

this restriction if they know how.

To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither

god nor poet; one need only own a good shovel.”

— Pines Above the Snow, A Sand County Almanac

. . . 

Mark bought me the above book. which is also a calendar. Each page follows the year beginning on January 1st with a tree image and text. It will go on the kitchen counter where we will turn over the pages as the year unfurls. 

It is clear to see from these examples of the pages, that this is going to be a wonderful way to start to our days. If you double click on the photos you can read the text.

Holiday decor

Last month, a long-time artist/gardener friend had a big sale of his artwork at a gallery space he created in his home. Artists never stop making new work and eventually they need to move it on to make room for new work; thus the sale. Mark bought a large print and I opted for this painting. I found the scene very calming despite its intense coloration. 

I added this ornament being pulled by a toy farm tractor as a nod to the holiday. The big green glass ball already had the pink bow on it. Clearly it was meant to join the painting. 

We are starting to come out of our cold spell. I'm a bit worried that it may get warm enough and rainy enough later this week to melt the snow cover. I'm thinking of going out looking for a couple of curbside Christmas trees to bring home. I will cut the branches off and have them ready to put over new plantings when the temperatures plunge back into winter. 

Happy Holidays

Wishing you and yours a pleasant and safe holiday

and an improved new year.

Holiday baking

I wasn't planning on trying a new cookie recipe this week until I saw this one in the NYTimes for Chocolate, Orange and Pistachio Shortbread. What's not to like with that melange of flavors? Mine look just like the newspaper photo and taste lovely. 

The recipe suggests using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. I don't have either and so I used my hand mixer until the dough got too thick. Then I used my hands and mixed the rest of the flour and the chopped sweets into the dough as though I was kneading bread. 

Letting the dough chill overnight in the fridge made it easy to slice even with big chunks of chocolate. The directions were easy to understand and follow, making this a recipe that I will be making again — and again.

December doldrums

Today marks one month since our friend Janice (right) died of cancer. I met Janice back in 2007 or 08 when I first started going for coffee on Saturday mornings to EVP on Speedway.

Janice was a drama queen in the best sense: Statuesque, stylish and impassioned. Always ready to protest, party or talk plants; we did plenty of all three over the years.

I can't begin to add up all the Saturdays we sat around sharing coffee and conversation. Nor can I quite image all those Saturdays to come without her. 

This week marks another unhappy anniversary: Friday will be one year since my sister Meg died of a rare auto-immune disease. This photo of her is so old I haven't a clue as to the date or location. But it's always been a favorite of mine. Her daughter, Sarah, is probably a similar age and looks strikingly like her mom does here. 

Meg's birthday is Christmas Day and my dad's is Christmas Eve. Despite having done a fair amount of holiday decorating, I am definitely not in a party mood and the 10-day weather forecast — rain, snow and cloudy skies — doesn't suggest there's any sunshine coming to push me out of my doldrums. So this is it for my blog posts this week. 

In the same vase on Monday

It has been so cold that I haven't been able to bring home any flowers from the grocery store on my recent shopping trips. Instead, we've been enjoying the very long lived flowers that I bought for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When the Thanksgiving bouquet started to fade, I took the best flowers and arranged them in new displays. This group is in a contemporary interpretation of a Japanese wall vase. This container does not hold a lot of water and I have no idea when I watered it last. Clearly, that's not a problem for these flowers. 

I took the red-dyed Goldenrod and added it to the holiday display around the ceramic platter that hangs by the front door. 

This is the last stem from the bouquet one of my friends brought me last month when my sister died. Mark has it in his bathroom on his typically crowded sink.

I grabbed a bunch of Tulips a couple of weeks ago on the one day I could safely get flowers from the warm grocery store to my warm car. When I got them home I was not all that happy with how tight the flowers were and how tightly they fit in the container. 

I moved a few tulips to another vase with the end of the Christmas greens.

I enjoyed them more as they started open more.

But neither Mark nor I were really happy until the flowers started on their slow path downward. I love to watch that process; I think it is Mark's favorite floral moment. He took dozens of photos as they faded.

It's going to be much warmer tomorrow, so I should be able to treat myself to a new bouquet when I go grocery shopping. 

IVOM: January flowers in a cold climate

A roundup of flowers in my house in cold weather.

It was a rare occurrence that I was able to bring Hellebore flowers from my garden into the house in December. All of my other indoor blooms were hot house flowers. I love Cyclamen for the intensity of their color and the fact that I can buy small plants that don't overwhelm a display.

Pomegranates are one of my go to items for display and not just at Christmas.  

I wanted this area to have a Christmas vibe but be able to work after the holiday as well. Thus I made the centerpiece a large glass box filled with warm toned textiles.

The box is holding a part of my collection of hats from India, Pakistan, Turkey and elsewhere. 

Quirky necklaces and an Indian carved figure are also in there. 

The hats are pieced and embroidered and many of them are as interesting on the inside as the outside with stitching or Russian cotton lining. The display on these tables will continue to look good through Valentine's Day.

Two friends stopped by with flowers for me when my sister died. 

As those flowers started to fade, I added the best ones to the bouquet I got for the dining room table. 

I added the rose and some tiny mums from one gift bouquet . . .

and lilies from the other gift flowers. 

I got a ridiculous amount of pleasure from re-arranging things, adding more evergreens from my garden and even a couple of big leaves of Arum italicum. 

As flowers continue to fade I removed them and reduced the bouquet. 

But I think it still looks good as the flowers mature and change. 

This little bouquet has been moving around the house since the fall when I clipped a stem of Coleus and one of Kale.

I added a couple of evergreens and moved it into my bathroom after the Hellebores died. I was surprised to see how well it fit in with this bowl of beads from the nearby antiques mall. 

The same items have a completely different feel when the white Hellebores and pale blue vases are replaced with this darker display. 

A blue Christmas

When you grow up as one of four sisters, you always imagine yourselves as "Little Women." I just never thought of one of us as Beth March. My 2nd youngest sister, Meg, died on December 16, 2021, having contracted a very rare version of an equally rare autoimmune disease that attacked her lungs.

Meg was working full time, taking care of her house, planning trips and making art — a month before she died. You can imagine what a shock it's been. Even more heartbreaking because Christmas Day is her birthday.

I've spent my life defining myself as a Brazill sister. I always picture the four of us standing together throughout life, much more than I think of each of us as individuals. We've lost our witty, wacky and wonderful partner — which means we will never be those Brazill sisters again. 

THE ONLY TIME THE FOUR OF US EVER ATTENDED A CONCERT TOGETHER: JONI MITCHELL IN TORONTO, 1972 (MEG'S IN PINK)

1988

1992

2004

2010

There are a few other photos taken of us together over the years, but these are my favorites. Living in four different states, we didn't get together as a foursome as much as we hoped we would.

The last time we were all together, it was a family gathering that included adult children, their spouses and children. It was a swirling mass of activity; so much so that we never managed to get one last picture taken of the four of us, alone together. 

A green December

The storms that swept through the Midwest on Wednesday night did little serious damage near us. We lost power during the night and the winds sounded scary; in the morning everything looked the same as it had the day before and for a number of days before that. It has been fascinating to walk around the garden and see what plants still have not given up despite frosts and lack of rain. 

Polystichum makinoi with Adiantum venustum

The fronds are turning purplish-bronze but they are still mainly upright. I am not sure if it's the result of the fern's own hardiness or its protected location. 

Both my newest and oldest clumps of Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance' are all standing tall and looking perfectly happy. I wish they had their autumn coloration now as well as in the spring. 

I put in two plants of Asarum splendens in 2019. Last summer I divided them and spread them around a bit. So far it has not been as aggressive as the native variety; nor has it gone dormant the moment it got cold. It is lovely to have that foliage instead of a big bare spot. 

I put a piece of Arum italicum 'Ghost' from the large mother plant in with this variegated ivy. The ivy makes the Arum foliage have a much more yellow cast than I ever noticed in the location. 

Epimedium 'Domino' has never slowed down. It's been a drama queen all season. 

I'm enjoying the sight of all this greenery in the garden; but I'm definitely ready for the moisture and insulation of some snow.