Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
It’s snowing today and there is nothing better to do than to have a fire, read (or write) and watch the yardstick slowly disappear under a white blanket. As Juana and I follow the birds fighting over position at the feeder, today’s New York Times has a story about how the signs of Spring this […]
Getting back from the Florida Keys was a big shock on the first day with a temperature drop of 80 degrees (more on the travel up later) but within a few days we felt like we were in a Northern Florida zip code as it was sunny and pushing 60 degrees. Unlike prior years, the […]
November is often when we get the first snow of the season. It arrives in different ways, sometimes as a simple flurry other times as an unanticipated storm that halts fall clean ups for the rest of the year. Today’s first snow was between these extremes as it was an unexpected fall with a few […]
In early October as we are becoming used to the Fall, it can sometimes not be helped that we think ahead as to what will winter hold for us. And with that fascination, comes a wide variety of speculation some of which comes from the wooly bear caterpillar. The wooly bear, or more precisely the […]
The part of winter that I dislike the most is the coldest day. In either January or February it arrives causing the Mercury to plunge to a yearly low, though we may not know it at the time. In Connecticut, the low is often around 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Some years it can be in the […]
The first snow of the year comes with anticipation. By the time the first flakes can reach the outstretched tongue of a child, the annuals have long since died and the perennials gone dormant. The leaves have lost most of their color becoming a gray carpet that periodically crunches underfoot. Broken branches are scattered waiting […]
Regardless of temperature, the cold of a January morning should never be unexpected in New England. Letting the dog out in the morning I am greeted with a fresh blast of air that stings my cheeks and tingles my fingers. Slamming the door quickly on the elements and the dog, I bundle up to load […]
We collect greens for Christmas to enhance the holiday decorations at home and remind us that while it is Winter, Spring is around the corner. Clippings from holly bushes; ivy vines; spruce, cedar and pine trees adorn our mantles providing a nest for candles, glass ornaments and other seasonal tchotchkes. They, the rhododendrons, azaleas, bayberry […]
Winter has come by date but not by nature. Record warmth has taken its place. Without frost or snow the gray and brown tailings of fall lie exposed. The birds, squirrels and other creatures that should be asleep scamper around finding seeds and other food easily. The bird feeders don’t require refilling daily. The wood […]
The beginnings of Fall have long since passed by time but only in the last week have the temperatures started to drop. It has been a warm season that makes one believe that the cold will be delayed indefinitely. There is a seasonal constant, however, that does not waver in its reminder that Winter is […]