Plants in the Basement and Flowers at the Museum

Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

It's been so cold and snowy here lately that we nearly forgot that winter doesn't last forever. 

Although there have been years when it came pretty close, this one hasn't been that bad.

Still it's hard to get excited about spring when the first crocus to bloom gets buried in snow. It will probably open once it thaws out.

Since spring is currently more of a concept than reality, The Crew decided to hang out with the patio plants that spend the winter in the basement. They're no substitute for tulips and magnolias but they will do for the time being. 

If they look hard enough they might even discover a primrose bloom or two.

Spencer was a little too enthusiastic in his examination of this begonia. He was forced to give up the search after a stern warning it was poisonous to cats.

He obviously wasn't too happy to learn it could make him very sick.

Fortunately, we have another way to escape from the perpetual winter. Every other year, at the beginning of March, one of our local art centers brings in florists from the area to show off their design expertise. It's called Rooms of Blooms since it's located in an historic home. It's a nice reminder that spring will be here eventually, or in a couple of months for those of us in the frozen north.

We finally remembered to attend the member's preview this year and I have to admit that the evening viewing wasn't ideal. At least on our way out we caught a rare glimpse of a starry night sky. If you look closely you can just make out the constellation of Orion in the upper middle of the photo.

As always, the flowers were gorgeous and there was definitely a natural appearance to the arrangements. This bouquet, combined with the china gave off a very woodsy vibe.

There were some more casual looks, too.

Now we know what to do with all those broken pots!

The gallery exhibit, Mao Lor: A Journey through Hmoob Paj Ntaub featured the intricate embroidery and hand-sewing of textile artist, Mao Lor. Her beautiful work includes both the traditional patterns of her culture and her innovative adaptations of those techniques for contemporary storytelling.  

The one issue I've always had with this event is having to peer around floral arrangements to see what's hanging on the gallery walls. It was especially an issue with the complexity of this embroidered artwork. As in the past, it almost seemed like the arrangements weren't just overwhelming the art, they were competing with it. His Madness and I always go back when the flowers are gone to get an unobstructed view.

 

Fortunately, the rest of the flowers looked absolutely stunning.

There are always a few paintings that have an uninterrupted view.

By far the most unique display was among the fantasy dining tables set up in the Great Hall. How would you like to be seated between this pair of giant fairy wings? Is there enough elbow room?

Wonder if the basement plants could ever look so otherworldly? 

Probably not. Maybe The Crew can give it a try next year, for now we're just happy they're still alive.

Happy Spring everyone and Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

Hibernating on Valentines Day

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Crew decided to celebrate by spending the morning lounging about doing nothing, which is actually what they do everyday so it's really not all that special. However, they do highly recommend that everyone give it a try every now and then.  

So they've been watching videos,

 and reading,

or just looking at the pictures,

while indulging in a little social media and a lot of coffee.

They will be responsible tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

See you soon and don't forget to be good to yourself!

Hobbies

January has been really, really weird in our neck of the woods. In the dead of winter, it's been either too warm or too cold to get outside and have some fun. Since the usual activities were canceled, we've ended up stuck inside with only our hobbies or Netflix for entertainment.  

Of course the Christmas decorations could have been taken down, but thanks to their perpetual procrastination disorder (which is a totally made up and self-diagnosed condition), the Crew still hasn't done that. This is what happens when the Halloween decorations stay up until the middle of December and you hang the last ornaments on the tree the day after Christmas.

   

According to several silly and totally unnecessary web sites (the kind I can't get enough of), January is National Hobby Month and the second Monday is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. They've probably been around for awhile but this is the first I've heard of them. No one in this household needs any more hobbies but that desk could use some decluttering. To be fair, there's nowhere for anything to go until the Christmas decor comes down. Maybe February should be Get Your Hobbies Under Control Month and Put Those Christmas Decorations Away Month?

His Madness never stops making pinhole cameras, so this is nothing new for him. 

I don't know if gardening is actually a hobby for me or if  I just like planting flowers. In any case, it's not easy to get into a pastime that comes to a complete halt for six months and the garden centers apparently understand this. These cute plants can be planted in the garden in spring. If they live.

In January there's also a lot of talk online about garden design. For me, that usually results in placing an overly ambitious order from a nursery while totally forgetting what already lies beneath the snow. Apparently, it's never too early to acquire seeds that you can't possibly plant for a couple of months and won't remember where you put them when planting time actually comes around.

At the moment, the Calamitous Garden isn't looking too bad, thanks to the blizzard that dropped the most snow we've seen since Halloween. Until recently, it was a very unattractive shade of brown. Sunny skies followed and brought below zero temps for a whole week and now it's in the mid 30°F. Such strange weather but at least the snow is pretty. 

Burt and Ivy's hobby is frightening the neighbors and that's an ongoing thing no matter what season it is. They do like to enhance the experience with a spooky jack-'o-lantern and are currently holding a serious debate about which leftover pumpkin to carve. The yellow one was picked green before a freeze and it has "ripened" while sitting on the kitchen floor. It also might not actually be a pumpkin, not that they really care, but it could be a little iffy on the inside. The other two came from the local supplier and seem okay. 

Since it's winter, they opted for the Ghost pumpkin. It was hard as a rock but not rotten inside.

Looks like they're all set for the evening. Happy January 31st everyone!

A very late Happy New Year to all and thanks for stopping by.

Thanksgiving

 

As the sunsets on the last of the pumpkins, it's time to embrace the fact that spooky season will be taking a brief pause for Christmas.  

One year we didn't get together with friends and relatives, so we tried to skip the usual Thanksgiving trappings and just treat it as any other day. That threw me off so much I barely got the presents wrapped in time for Christmas.

Now we make Thanksgiving Dinner - no matter what! 

Besides turkey and pumpkin pie the other menu requirement (for me anyway) is cranberry sauce. I like that it's colorful and smells good when it's cooking. Someone must actually eat it, or is it one of those dishes you take a tablespoon of and just push around on your plate?   

This year His Madness also made some pumpkin bread. It was really made with butternut squash but nobody cared. These little pumpkins were hard as rocks and only good for decorations and future compost material. 

 

During the frenzy of cooking, The Skeleton Crew decided to put together the playhouse I ordered for Spenser back in October. It seemed like it would be a good place for him to hideout during the hours of Trick or Treating. 

As these things go, the "universal" directions scared us off and Spenser spent Halloween under the bed, as usual. Once they got started it went together quickly, although Kib was right there to point out all the places where they screwed up.

It's okay, it holds Burt, and that's good enough.

Spencer likes his new hiding house so much he may not come out until Christmas.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates.

 I'm always thankful that you stop by, see you soon!

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a very spooky Halloween.

We had a bit of a challenge in our neck of the woods although we did know it was coming. One of our Trick or Treaters told me "so what if it's cold and snowing, we couldn't miss free candy day".  

This is what was left of seventy-two candy bars after two hours of Trick or Treating at 30°F.  through an inch of snow. They were awesome!  

Our front porch decorations were heavily influenced by a couple of botched jobs the electricians left us with after their visit last week. The Jack-'O-Lantern lamp post did a good job of covering up the missing light fixture and we found enough extension cords to stretch to the back of the house where there is an actual working outlet. Half of the lights on the garland that goes around the door were out so we skipped putting that up. It was kind of a mess but I doubt if anyone noticed.

The one thing I've learned from all the mishaps and annoying problems we've had this fall is to take the time to appreciate it when things do go well.

It's easy to take good luck for granted.

Now, it's probably time to start preparing for next Halloween.

Right after the electricians come back.

Sadly, this was as close as anyone in our household came to a costume this year. The sun came out for awhile yesterday morning, just long enough to cast some pretty bizarre shadows on Spenser. He could almost pass for a monotone Cheshire Cat.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!