Each Little World

My Christmas sister

Meg Brazill

December 25, 1952 — December 16, 2021

Remembering my dad

Today marks 25 years since my dad died. When you are growing up, you focus on the rules at home and what your parents allow you — or don't allow you — to do. You don't think much about your parents and your childhood in a more broad sense until you are a lot older. Which is to say, I did not realize what good parents — and what an idyllic childhood I had — until I was long out of college and heard the stories of other people's childhoods. 

My parents had four daughters and my dad was very supportive of us and made sure we all went to college so we could support ourselves and not have to depend on someone else to do so. Though we all married, I think none of us rushed into marriage since we indeed could manage on our own. That resulted in marriages that are still going strong. 

My dad with his younger brother, Jerry sometime in the 1920s. 

My dad (right) with his brothers Jerry (left) and Bill. Their oldest brother, James, died of pneumonia the year before. 

My dad served on destroyers in the US Navy during WWII. His first ship, the USS Long Island, took part in the battles of Midway and the Guadalcanal. 

My parents with all of us girls in a family portrait in the late 1950s.

Holiday greenery

I spent the afternoon of December 8 in the garden as it was unseasonably warm. It was a lovely day to work outside if you didn't assume climate change was responsible for the temperatures in the low 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

I wandered the garden with my clippers cutting evergreens to fan out around the big Mark Skudlarek plate by the front door. There's a long rolled-up tube of chicken wire curving behind the plate to hold the stems of the greenery.

Many of the evergreens in our garden are now mature enough that I had no qualms about cutting a few small branches off of any one of them. I ended up with the most mixed display I've ever had, using clippings from seven different evergreens. 

The mix includes Arborvitae, both Canadian and Japanese Hemlocks, blue Juniper, Scots pine, Russian cypress and an unknown lacy yellow Chamaecyparis. I put the Canadian Hemlock branches in with their silvery blue undersides showing for more contrast. 

I love how the blue tones echo the color of the plate.

I added a string of battery powered mini lights and then decided it needed something more. I tried a few still bright Allium seed heads.

But that bright pink seemed a bit much. So I calmed it down with a few bigger and much less colorful Allium seed heads and am generally pleased with the result. 

The only downside is that I learned via a discussion on the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society FB page that the professionals said not to do any trimming while it is this warm. They noted the trees and shrubs are not dormant and the fresh cuts could prove harmful.

I love the education I get on that Wisconsin site, but I sure wish the subject had come up before I went clipping here and there. 

A Pattern Language

Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language" is a book about architecture, community and design solutions that came out of UC-Berkeley in the 1970s. I own a copy and have skimmed it over the years. I love patterns and recently kept noticing them, no matter where I was or what I was doing. So this is my "pattern language."

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.