Poinsettia Season... And a Happy New Year!

Poinsettias are everywhere this month, and they make a pretty and easy gift.
I bought 3 small poinsettias very inexpensively.  I  re-used a woven wooden basket as my planter.  A plastic garbage bag works as a liner; I simply cut it down to size. After arranging the plants in the basket, I added a few pieces of wet floral foam block before filling in the rest of the basket with extra potting soil. This flower arrangement is destined for my mother-in-law's nursing home, and the foam pieces help hold the moisture in this dry environment where watering tends to be sporadic. Once the planting is complete, I roll the extra plastic into the inner edge. Spanish moss around the edge is the finishing touch; it hides the plastic and gives a nice finished look.  Voila! A good looking planting for my mother-in-law for less than $10.

We've always had good luck with poinsettias. See Poinsettias in July 

Our oldest, biggest poinsettia has not sprouted any red leaves so far this year. However, another smaller one that we summered over on the patio has.  All it takes is a couple of small red leaves to get us very excited.  And not to worry about the big poinsettia... it's an easy fix.  A couple of large artificial branches and it's a big, beautiful, blooming poinsettia!






Last year's poinsettia sprouts red leaves again!



The poinsettia plant is real; We've been growing it for years. It didn't sprout red leaves for us this year, so I added a few artificial flowers.  Problem solved!  :)

Santa Arrives with Our Greenhouse!

Merry Christmas to us! Our new Cedar-Built Greenhouse has arrived! Ordered the first week of September... expected to arrive late October... came yesterday, Dec. 13th, in a snowstorm, of course.  The "...between 2 and 4 pm..." delivery time turned out to be at 12:30 just as I was getting in my car to go to my December Quilt Club.  "I'm at the intersection of Rt.219 and 39," said the truck driver. Yikes! That's 5 minutes away, and there is no one here to unload, but me! Twenty minutes later, after some hasty phone calls, DH, his brother, and another nice strong 20-year-old with a pickup truck came to my rescue.

We live on a little dead-end side street, so the semi-truck had to back down our street to the end of our driveway. Six large and very heavy crates needed to move from the back of the semi, up our driveway, and into the garage.  No automatic lift-gate in this truck; it would take strong backs and pure muscle to do the job.  We needed a plan.  First crate: let's balance it on the garden wagon, and pull it to the garage with the lawn tractor. Okay, that kind of worked, but that was the smallest crate.  Can we get the larger ones onto that little wagon?

Thank goodness for Joe, the 20 year-old, and his pickup truck.  New plan: let Joe back up to the semi. Move the crates, one by one, into the pickup bed, and drive them into the garage.  "Now we're cooking... Don't drop'em boys... "  Thirty minutes, and a couple pinched fingers later the transfer was complete.  Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, brother and friend! There's no way we could have done it without you.

Off I went to my Quilt Club, and DH spent the rest of the afternoon uncrating the greenhouse.  Of course, this means we will only be able to park 1 of our 2 cars in the garage.  One car (my car) will be sitting out in the snow until the greenhouse gets built.  (I see a lot of snow scraping in my future. Ugh!) 

The next step in this greenhouse adventure will be staining all the wooden pieces - no small task. I'm usually the painter of the family, so I've offered to take this on.  The garage can be heated, so as long as I can bear the fumes, I can get to it any time. My goal is to do a little at a time, but to have it finished in 1 month.  There's no real rush; it's not like we can beat the snow anymore. If our present winter weather continues as is throughout the season, we will be looking at a March greenhouse raising at the earliest.  Stay tuned:)

Cedar greenhouse- all in pieces waiting to be stained.

Winterize Your Rainbarrel & the Greenhouse Arrives Tomorrow!

Yikes!  Winter has arrived with a fury after our lovely mild autumn.  We've had several winter storms in the last 2 weeks.  My DH's hometown (25 miles SW of us) got socked with 4 feet of snow just a week ago.  We got about a foot or so. Temps have dropped rapidly, and we'll probably be back in the teens tomorrow with ice, wind, and more snow.

The only problem with our mild November is that we were lulled into forgetting Mother Nature's fickle personality. DH did not put up his Christmas lights Thanksgiving weekend when it was 50+ degrees.  No, he finally got to it this weekend in the wind and 20 degree weather.  Nothing says Christmas like "Griswalding" your home in a blizzard.

And somehow we neglected to empty and winterize the rain barrel. Not good.  How did it freeze so quickly?  Too late now.  Not only was it frozen solid, but the bottom had already cracked open.  There will be no saving this rain barrel.  How sad.  We'll thaw it out, cut off the top, and try to turn it into a "ball barrel" to hold kickball, footballs, basketballs, etc. in the garage.

On a more exciting note.... the long awaited greenhouse is due to arrive tomorrow.  It was shipped from the factory in Vancouver, Canada a week ago, and we've been tracking it's journey across Canada on the internet.  What an amazing time we live in; to be able to see where the truck was each evening was fascinating. Once it crossed into the U.S. it continued on to NY City.  "No," I wanted to shout! "We're only 50 miles from the Canadian border; we're 10 hours from NY City.  You're just going to have to turn around and come back to western NY."  But the shipping companies have their own way of doing things. I believe the greenhouse was transferred to a more local trucking company in NY City, and back it came to Buffalo, NY.  We got a call on Saturday asking us to have 2 or 3 strong men here on Monday between 2 and 4 pm to help off-load the greenhouse.  It will be packed on 6 pallets. It will have to go into the garage until I get it stained and the weather moderates.  More on this tomorrow.  What an exciting Christmas present!

"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful..."

The Winter of Our Lives

This has not been a good week.  Two unexpected deaths have left me feeling rather numb.  One was a young girl - former student of mine - with her whole life in front of her.  A tragic car accident leaves a giant hole in her family. Too young, too needless, too hurtful. And Jack - good friend, fellow teacher, newly retired with me - What? Where are you? You can't be gone. You have too much life in you. Lynn needs you. We all need you.

First snowstorm of the season happened yesterday.  More predicted for today and tomorrow.  Fits my mood.  Cold, windy, slippery, cloudy - where's the sun? DH says, "Go take some pictures for the blog." What the heck.  Nothing looks pretty to me right now, but sometimes the camera can help me see things I miss otherwise. 

The wind socks make me think of flying with Jack.  Jack, I was scared to death, but your enthusiasm and confidence was enough for both of us.  It was unforgettable - all 3 trips! You were a man of adventures; thanks for including me in the flying adventure.

Look how the snow blankets the trees.  Sometimes you just have to huddle down and wait for the storms of life to ease.  Jack knew that also.  He never was too busy at school to check on his friends. He was a high school teacher; I was down in the elementary. Sometimes there is a gap between high school and elementary staff even though our school is all one building.  Not so with Jack; he came to the elementary wing regularly to check on his friends - of which he had many. Thanks for the caring; it blanket-ed us many times in the storms.

Right today everything looks cold and grey. These are not black and white photos, but when I first looked at them, I thought they were.  Look carefully at those branches.  There is color there. "Wait," they tell me; storms, nor winter, last forever.  The sun will come back; life's colors will shine again. Memories will last; the sting will fade.

There is a N-E-S-W compass rose behind the bird bath. It's hard to see today because of the snow. But the snow will melt, and the way will come apparent again, thanks in part to the life lessons I've learned from Jack.  Be happy; care for others; be adventurous; learn something new; don't be too serious; a little romance is a good thing; live every single day.  You will not be forgotten. RIP.