Plants & Pineapple in the Snow

There really isn't much going on up here in the frozen north right now. I used to love being outdoors in the winter, going skiing and ice skating or just walking in the snow. There was a time when I couldn't wait to go hurling down the steepest hill on anything I could find - inner tubes, sleds, a piece of cardboard - but cafeteria trays were the best! There was a killer hill next to the food service at my college - but no one ever died. These days, after spraining my wrist curling ribbon in early December and then twisting an ankle taking down the Christmas garlands, walking across the driveway is the about as risky as it gets. I still love winter anyway. 

Filling the bird feeders is one of Burt favorite wintertime chores. Doing something nice for others always makes him feel good. He's kind of at a loss for what to do with himself after the holidays.

This morning the bird feeder looked really cute with this dusting of fresh snow on its little roof. The decorative bird house behind it has fake snow on its roof (as if you couldn't tell) and sometimes it's hard to tell the real stuff from artificial.

His Madness, inspired by all the photos on Facebook of our friends enjoying themselves in Cancun, brought this pineapple home from the grocery store for brunch. I'm definitely not a beach person but I wouldn't mind being on a veranda somewhere in the tropics, sipping a cocktail and watching the sun go down. Maybe next year. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of taking a vacation right after the holidays. It seems so much more appealing than chipping ice off the front steps!

Meanwhile, back at brunch a mystery was unfolding.

"OH, NO!" says Mr. Pancake. "What happened to the pineapple?"

Turns out, it was to the upper right, just out of all the photos, duh.

Following the ritual sacrifice of the fruit, its top became a popular headpiece. He wore it all day and it never fell off! Although, it did fit right in with the orchids and banana leaves on the curtains, which usually come down when the plants move inside. How did I totally forget to do that? In my defence, last year Mother Nature sent us snow for Halloween and rain on Christmas, it was confusing. 

After watching the wildfires in Australia and out west, I decided to work on reducing our carbon footprint. Making donations to help the wildlife did make me feel a little bit better but I've always felt guilty about all the energy it takes to keep the lights on for my basement garden. 

Last fall we had an unpredicted freeze that killed off a few of the outside plants that typically lived in the basement over the winter. That left fewer plants to deal with so now the basement is only home to the ones that can live without supplemental lighting and, in the case of the Ivy's namesake, not survive an invasion of spider mites.

There are a few ivies and some flowering plants that can't fight off an infestation of spider mites and my house is cursed with those little buggers. They're nearly microscopic and even though a lot of plants aren't bothered by them, they can kill a susceptible variety (especially the pretty flowering ones that were gifts) in a matter of days.  

Somehow they never liked the basement much, so the most vulnerable plants were safe in the fluorescent garden. Well, safe from spider mites at least. Oafish cats are something else.

So far, so good and with January almost over, there's only a couple months to go!

Thanks for stopping by!