Merry Christmas
To You and Your Family
Christmas and Holiday Traditions from Around the World
In Catalonia, Christmas cheer begins with a log that has a face, a red hat, and absolutely no dignity. Children beat this log with sticks while singing songs demanding that it defecate presents.
Inside my Brain in Winter
A Gardener's Brain in Winter.
Evergreen Trees and The Friends Who Stay
This morning, I took a long walk through the backyard. The cold temperatures and recent snowfalls have now transformed summer’s lush gardens into stark and barren worlds. The ground was hard and unforgiving; the landscape stripped down to little more than branches and memories, sparing only the evergreen trees that stood in stark contrast.
Make Your Own Show – Stopping Outdoor Centerpiece This Holiday Season
Two years ago, Marty and I decided to try our hand at making a holiday centerpiece for our front porch. We wanted to create something that was different, looked great, and wasn’t expensive or too difficult to make over a weekend.
Brunch with Friends
A Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, and Blue Jay having brunch with friends at one of our feeders this morning.
Let it Snow
A Scene from a Winter Garden - Let it Snow
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Wishing you a Thanksgiving filled with love, laughter, and good food.
How to Slow Down When the World Speeds Up
There’s a moment every November when the world feels like it suddenly hits fast-forward. Holiday plans. Deadlines. Obligations you didn’t have last week but somehow now own. It’s as if the calendar flips a switch and says, “Hurry. Do more. Go faster.” But here’s the thing: nature doesn’t do that. Stand in a November garden and you’ll notice something quietly astonishing - everything is slowing down. The leaves fall in slow spirals. The air thickens. The days stretch their shadows like long exhalations. And while we’re speeding up, the earth is easing into stillness. So the real question isn’t
What a Difference a Week Makes
Here are two short videos of my backyard taken a little over a week apart. Most of the maple, redbud, oak, crabapple, and dogwwod trees have lost their leaves in the second video and the metasequoia have started transforming into their stunning fall rust color. But they too will be bare within the next week or two. I love the changing seasons! Beautiful fall colors giving way to winter.
