Each Little World

Holiday greenery

We have a number of oversize plates — platters, really — displayed on the exterior walls of our house. Rather than removing this plate by our front door in order to put a wreath there, I decided to decorate around it. First I rolled a length of chicken wire into a tube and draped it around the top of the plate. Then I went around the garden, cutting greenery.

I mainly used Hemlock and Arborvita with a bit of variegated Euonymous and a Hellebore leaf. It looked a little blah so I added a few springs of Eucalyptus from the grocery store, two bunches of artificial sparkly red berries and foliage and a string of "rice" lights. 

The Japanese vase on the dining room wall got a leaf of Arum italicum and two fern fronds. The Autumn fern (on the left, Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance') is holding up well indoors, though the Tassel fern (Polystichum polyblepharum) only made it through the first day. It still looks great out in the garden, however. This is its first year and it is so attractive that I am really hoping it makes it through the winter. 

I have the little vase of Thanksgiving Hellebore flowers on the vanity in my bathroom. I added more Arborvitae greens on top of the artwork on the walls, along with a bit of satiny ribbon whose ends I "pinked." 

As with the other rooms in our house, the art in our bathrooms get changed out periodically.  

These antique floral prints hadn't seen the light of day for a number of years, so I am enjoying seeing them on a daily basis. 

The wall color and materials in Mark's bathroom are more restrained than in mine and so is his bouquet. This little foliage collection has been in a vase on his sink for weeks and still looks good. I moved it to another room to photograph it. 

IVOM: Christmas roses

Most of the Hellebores in my garden are what are commonly called Lenten Roses  (H. orientalis) because they bloom in the spring near that religious occasion. Most of mine typically start to flower in late March or early April.

But I have two clumps of what are known as the Christmas Rose (H. niger) in places like Britain where it blooms at this time of year in their warmer climate. In Wisconsin where I live, it is usually too cold for anything to be actually flowering.

My H. niger were purchased as Zone 5 plants from the late Seneca Hill Perennials in New York State. They referred to them as "Thanksgiving Hellebores" because that is when they bloomed for them. Mine are usually up and budded at turkey time, but it is usually already too cold for them to open.

This year's on again/off again winter had me outdoors on the afternoon of the Winter Solstice with my garden clippers. I created the arrangement in these photos then and it is still looking good almost two weeks later.  Until I had these H. niger flowers in front of me every day, I never realized the buds are washed in pale pink. 

I put this vase in my bathroom hoping the higher humidity would help it survive. The flowers have continued to open but it is a much more restrained display than these plants offer in the garden. The bouquet includes leaves from two different Hellebores, Heuchera foliage and one of the beautifully patterned leaves from Arum italicum 'Ghost'. 

To add a holiday glow to my bathroom, I suspended a pair of large glass ornaments from the wall scones. 

Since these are made of clear glass they get lost when hung on a Christmas tree. This let them shine center stage for a brief time. 

I put out my grandmother's silver dresser set as well to really up the shine factor.

To see what other gardeners have found in their gardens to use in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, who hosts this lively and long-running meme. 

Santa brought us snow!

The scene out our windows yesterday morning! Not a lot of snow, but enough to qualify for a white Christmas. 

Plus the red fox visited the garden twice during the day. The snow made it  much easier to watch him as he wandered around and then managed to squeeze under the fence into our neighbor's garden.

Happy Christmas birthday, sis

Christmas throughout the house

My sisters-in-law tend to spread a bit of Christmas all through their houses. I love the big moments as well as the little touches like this beaded tree dangling from a cupboard doorknob. 

Mark's late father, Henry, was the subject of some of Mark's art, but his dad — especially in his youth — produced wonderful art as well. There were enough pieces of his youthful work that Mark and his siblings all have a piece. HIs sister Sara displays her artwork by Henry every Christmas. This was done in 1932 when their dad was 13 years old. An absolute treasure. 

Our fireplace mantle is quite narrow so it makes it hard to create a lovely display like this one. Sara and I both have pastel drawings with collaged materials by Madison artist LuAnn Erickson.

Her's is another lovely addition to her home's holiday decor. 

Sara's mantle has a number of things on it but to me the overall effect is light and bright. That's because the objects are all related by theme and are similar shapes in limited colors that reflect the framed artwork. 

We both like to display a few of our remaining childhood items along with toys that we've collected over the years. Her's are spread out on top of a long shelf with unusual and antique boxes interspersed. I followed her lead years ago and bought the same big red bell which I then combined with a copy of "The Polar Express" as a gift for Mark. For many years I always searched out and bought the best holiday book for children. Now those books are exiting my shelves as gifts. 

I love to get out Mark and my old childhood treasures each Christmas and I always look forward to visiting Sara's treasures as well. 

Dressed for the holidays

My pink tree is the only one I have out this year which is not the case with one of my sisters-in-law who has her usual three trees on display in different rooms of her house. Her trees are what I would describe as small, medium and medium large which is the one shown below. The two larger ones easily fit on a table top or pedestal which is how she has them displayed. We've purchased some of the the same ornaments over the years and given each other ornaments as gifts, so I always like to see what she's done with her treasures. 

These photos were shot in the daytime hours so the glitter factor is somewhat subdued. In addition to lights on her tree, she had chains of sparkling "crystals" which reflect all the colors and lights. This tree has wide spaces between the layers of branches so the ornaments have room to be well-placed and displayed. 

The tree is on a pedestal in front of a beautiful contemporary quilt in reds, greens and blues — a perfect backdrop. 

The tree itself was anchored in a crock which was surrounded by a ring of dried orange slices — an idea well worth copying, especially since I have a whole year to get it done. 

 

Pretty in pink

Back in the 1960s my paternal grandparents had an aluminum Christmas tree with a gizmo that bathed it in changing colors. All of us grandkids were struck with the shock of the new, though I never really warmed to it. But last year in December, after my tree was up and decorated, I stumbled across my equally glitzy dream tree. 

If you asked me, I never would have said I was searching for a pink tree made of twisted metallic paper (as near as I can tell). But at only about 4 feet tall, it was the right size to put on the drop leaf table in the red room. 

It is way too intrusive a color and material to be at home in any other room in the house. The red walls in this room, however, are the perfect backdrop and actually seem to tone the color down a bit. 

I store all my Christmas ornaments in two big cardboard boxes that each have three trays divided into many small sections to keep all these precious pieces of glass from rolling around and knocking into each other. One bin has all the green/blue/silver objects and the other holds red/pink/purple/gold colored decorations. So it was easy to match my ornaments to the color of my new tree. 

Among my early personal splurges is the Christopher Radko quirky, slightly creepy face on the left above. I love Radko's early ornaments which were strange and unusual compared to his much larger, later pieces that focused more on traditional Christmas motifs.

I've always gravitated to pink and red ornaments so it was no problem to decorate this tree, though I did add a few new things like the cherry red pine cone or the pink sphere with blue daisies. I can't believe how much I am enjoying this silly pink tree. And Mark loves the fact that it is not out in the living room staring him in the face!

A bowlful of Christmas

Over the years I've picked up a lot of inspiration and tips for holiday decorating from my sisters-in-law. I love to watch what they do with items that come out every year as well as seeing how they incorporate new treasures. My sister-in-law Sara and I both set out a bowl or platter of ornaments and objects on a prominent table in our living spaces. I think we both started with natural items like pine cones and pomegranates, slowly adding a bit of glitz and glitter over the years. I can look at her grouping and mine and remember certain items we bought on joint shopping excursions.

Sara put a string of battery-operated lights on hers which makes a quiet statement while letting you see the lovely ingredients more easily. I used my short string of lights for another project but seeing her display has convinced me I need to get a strand to add to mine. 

I always use the same Win Byers black and red platter for my display. I bought it for Mark as a wedding present after he'd admired it at one of our favorite local galleries, though it is so full of objects the color is barely visible.

Mine still has quite a few natural items like clove-studded pomander balls, large pine cones and dried pomegranates. Though this is the first year that I've had such a wealth of dried pomegranates that I did not use them all.  

 That's because glittery pomegranate ornaments are taking over, along with glass, varnished and metal pinecones. 

My tip for this type of holiday display: Store all the items in one container, along with the lights, so you don't have to go searching when you want to put this together. And don't forget to label the outside of the box!

Recent Reads: One for the holidays

When I first became aware of blogs in the early 2000s, all the bloggers I followed lived in the United Kingdom. They were bakers and gardeners and knitters and cooks and above all, readers of books. It's on those blogs that I discovered so many books and authors that were new to me and have since become favorites. It's also where I found Persephone Books which I've written about so many times that I made it a category on my blog

I still read many of those blogs, though not as often. But every time I visit I learn about a new book that I want to read. My latest discovery is "The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories and essential recipes for midwinter" by Nigel Slater. Slater is described as an "award-winning author, journalist and television presenter." He's also written a food column for the Observer, a UK newspaper, for 25 years. I knew his name but that's about all. I had not come across this book locally and thus took a chance and ordered it sight unseen. I could not be more pleased with the result of my leap of faith as I found the book to be much richer than its title implies.

The book does not have a dust jacket; instead there's a nice fabric cover with gold and a ribbon page marker. There are lots of food photos as well as holiday store windows, Christmas trees, Advent calendars and the like. The pages are bright white with type that's easy to read and recipes printed in a size that is useful — though the measurements are all metric. There's an index in the back so you can easily find a recipe but no table of contents.

Instead the book opens with a generous introductory essay and then offers a daily dose from November 1st until February 2nd aka Candlemas Day. That was always a church-going occasion when we were growing up. But now the recipe for "Lemon, orange and basil ice" and Slater's description of a snowy morning in Japan are of much more interest to me. Since Slater was generally unknown to me, I looked him up online and discovered that he also has a lovely garden behind his house. A dreamy garden (below) to say the least, if you are an Anglophile like me. 

I found Slater to be a witty, opinionated, knowledgeable and amusing writer. He describes looking at bare trees in winter "when they are at their most peaceful . . . like watching a loved one asleep." Or how about this: "The flavors of winter come at us like paper-wrapped presents in a Christmas stocking." And then he goes on for half a page enumerating those flavors and fragrances. Each evening I sit in front of my fire and read that day's entry. I'm not sure if I will ever make any of Slater's recipes but the text is evocative enough to satisfy my needs. 

Nigel Slater portrait by 4th Estate; the other photos are from Wiki

Since  we''re already at the end of November, you will have missed reading a third of the book if you follow along day-by-day the way I am. But then just think of all that you will have to enjoy next November when you pull it off the shelf and open it again. Reading this could easily become an annual holiday tradition. 

NOTE: Since I bought this book in September, I have seen it in the holiday listings of a number of independent bookstores. So I would first check with your favorite local bookstore before you go online.   

Fiber Friday: Olbrich Botanical Gardens

I've said it before and I will say it again: The Growing Gifts shop at Olbrich Botanical Gardens is an unsung treasure trove of treats. Clothing, accessories like hats and scarves and bags, books and greeting cards, home decor objects like trays, vases and candle holders and lots of fun (and educational) items for children. I am often at Olbrich for evening lectures when the shop is closed. This being the holiday season, I made a point of stopping this week to see what they had in store for local shoppers. Almost everything that caught my attention was some kind of textile item.

I brought home this assortment of Alpaca socks (and one pair of cotton) to add to my stash. At $19.00 a pop these might seem like an outrageous extravagance. But I've been saving up to get them as they are the softest, warmest and most delightful socks I've found in years. The only ones to equal them were the hand-knit pairs my sister sent me for a few Christmases. I have cold feet year-round and wear these socks year-round as well, making them a necessity and well-worth the hefty price tag. 

The shop had a pair of these creatures for sale: this resting version and the other standing with its head bent down as though foraging. They are probably between 18 inches to 2 feet to give you a rough estimate of the size. Big enough to add a lot of drama to your holiday display.

They are from India, covered with white-on-white embroidery.

I did not get the prices on items (other than my socks) as the displays were so full that I didn't want to take a chance on upsetting anything by sticking my winter-coated arms in there twisting and turning price tags.

As you might expect, they had loads of felted, furry and feathered ornaments.

I was quite taken with the folk-art feeling of these felted trees. 

Olbrich's gift shop also had these funky 1950's style trees in an assortment of sizes and colors. Perfect for anyone doing color-themed decor or looking for mid-century modern holiday items. 

Matching garlands of felted spheres are available. Note that these are handcrafted by women's cooperatives in Nepal. Thus buying these supports women along with Olbrich.

Remember, members of Olbrich's Friends organization get a discount at the shop, among many other benefits. There are 8 levels of membership. You can find all the details here.