Each Little World

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.

GBBD: 12.12.2021

It's December in Wisconsin so it's not exactly the moment to find flowers in my garden. We are not buried under snow like last year, however, and so I did unearth a few things hidden under the leaves yesterday afternoon. It's foggy this morning with a forecast of rain and possible severe storms. The temperature at 8 a.m. is 52°F.

I clipped enough Helleborus niger flowers to fill three small Heath vases that I put in my bathroom. I used their colors as the theme for a bit of holiday decor. 

The buds in this vase on the other side of my vanity sink haven't opened yet. 

I love the pattern on this vase against the tissue holder's faux shagreen. 

I used Hellebore foliage in two of the vases. 

In the third I put a leaf from a Hepatica and a frond from a Hart's Tongue fern.

I've been cutting Hellebore flowers from one plant for over a month. Each one lasts at least two weeks so I should be able to enjoy these right up to Christmas. 

Christmas weather

It looks like Christmas indoors at our house. I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving. 

I am making a point of reading in the evening, ensconced in my grandfather's chair in the red room with the my glittery pink tree aglow.

"The Animal's Merry Christmas" was one of our favorite books as kids. So I had to buy a copy when it was reissued a few years ago. I read a couple of my favorite stories and then turned to some I remembered less well. "Green Christmas" is a long poem where the animals say

"When the ground is bare of ice and snow,

And stars are bright, and the winds don't blow.

Hurrah for Christmas and still no snow."

In the days when I used to drive or fly out East to spend Christmas with my family, nothing would have made me happier than a dry, green December. Pretty much the weather we're having now. The temperatures the next few days are all going to get up in the 40°s, culminating in a potential high on Wednesday into the 60°s. It's a weather pattern that I no longer desire and can barely enjoy. 

These days I agree with the townsfolk in the poem:

"It's not like Christmas without some snow!"

Sigh the townsfolk, wishing the wind would blow — 

I don't need any blowing wind, but I would be happy to have the seasons resemble those I grew up with; before we unleashed climate change upon ourselves and our world. 

New Year's greetings

    

Linda and Mark

wish you a safe

and saner 2021.

We're looking forward

to less social distancing,

more hugs,

and life with Joe and Kamala

The "Backscratchers Chair" by Rumi O'Brien

with Linda's childhood teddy bear and Mark's donkey.

IVOM: The un-Christmas display

A number of pre-COVID months ago, one of my favorite local artists, Richard Jones of Studio Paran, closed up his glass studio to my great disappointment. Thus I was thrilled when he sent out an email saying that his website was still up and was featuring all of the treasures he'd found as he cleaned out his studio. I treated myself to this unmatched grouping of a pair of candlesticks and a vase. It graced the table for all of our meals — regardless of the changes in table settings — all last week. 

Richard's containers are beautiful with nothing in them. I thought that this one could easily be overwhelmed by its contents, so I opted for just two flowers; different species — Hydrangea and Chrysanthemum — but the same color.

Our Christmas Day dinner featured blue and white dishes and accoutrements. I added this pair of intensely colored Foo dogs to the mix to make it less traditional.

This turned out to be Mark's favorite combination; a total surprise to me. We continue to enjoy it on a clean table ready for a new week of holiday dinners.

Christmas pleasures

Bursts of sunshine

A new painting: "Arkansas Blacks" by Jonathan Wilde. I bought that apple variety at the farmers market this summer. 

I baked two kinds of cookies, candied orange peel with an 1801 recipe and dipped them, apricots and walnut-stuffed dates in chocolate. It was deliciously enjoyable with no deadlines for parties or shipping or anything but our enjoyment. 

Best wishes for a pleasant and safe holiday for all of you and your families.

December companions

My angelic ceramic chorister always comes out to celebrate Christmas. She's a tiny little creature and likes to be near the comforting presence of the big gilded Buddha. 

If you look closely you will see my name painted on the angel's sheet music. My mother's best friend from college made this angel to celebrate my birth.  Though we're both the same age, unlike me, her hair hasn't lost its color!