Hogmanay and First Footing

Happy New Year to All!!!

My husband and I were very active in the Scottish Community in Columbus up until we moved to Whidbey Island.

In Scotland, New Years is a huge holiday. Here I'll ask you to go to google and look up Hogmanay, the Scottish term for New Years. Also google "first footing"... another Scottish tradition. According to this tradition, the luck you will have for the next year is determined by the person who is first to enter your house on New Year's Day. The very best luck you can have is for a tall, dark haired man to be your First Footer. He should bring a loaf of bread and a lump of coal with him. These signify food and fuel for the year.

We have participated in a few such celebrations. One of the most notable was at Mac's Cafe in the Gallery District in Columbus. It was great fun.

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year and enjoy good health, good food and enough wealth to keep you comfortable for the whole year.

The Christmas Forest...

I hope everyone has the very best of times in your special holiday this year and for many years to come.

This is our Christmas Forest and Village. It's a little different every year but I've been building a Christmas village for as long as I can remember. Mother always used to arrange little paper houses under the Christmas tree and I would watch and pretend it was a real village with real little people in it. When I got old enough, she started letting me arrange it. Sometimes I'd put it under the tree like she did but other years I'd set up a card table and put the village there. It didn't matter to Mother. However I wanted to do it was okay with her.

David and I have always had a tree. Our first tree was a 4' white flocked artificial tree. We were looking for a regular green one and I happened to look way up high in a large store. There on the very top shelf, all by itself was this little white tree. It looked so lonesome and forlorn. I pointed it out to David and he understood immediately. So it was our first tree.

Then one year, we went to a garden center to buy a live cut tree. We looked at several but there again I heard a call. I walked down the row to a little tree that was clear down at the end, sort of tossed aside. I lifted it up. It had a bent trunk and some branches were missing... I called David over. Again he understood immediately. That tree was so beautiful after we had it all decorated. We (I) couldn't bear to part with it until Ground Hog's Day. :-)

So, many trees and many Christmases later, we moved into our present little Cape Cod house. It was too small for our usual tree, so we bought a Christmas Forest. Three short (1', 3' and 4') narrow trees. We used them last year and they're perfect again this year. And the village is very happy at the edge of the Christmas Forest.




At this Special time, may you Find
Love, Peace, Health, Renewal.
Hope, Food, Safety, Warmth.
Friends, Family, Trust, Home.
May they stay with you all the year long.

My Solstice Tradition

About 12 years ago, I began my own Winter Solstice Tradition. I wanted to celebrate the return of warmth and light by myself (although I wouldn't mind if others joined me). I didn't want any big fuss or fanfare, just recognition of the Power beyond my imagination that was going to chase away the dark and the cold and bring back light and warmth and make the world live again.

So, 12 years ago, at midnight on December 21, I went outside to a tree on the lawn of the house were living in. I patted the tree gave it a hug and reassured it that warmth and light was coming and it would be all right. I still do this every Solstice Eve. Short and sweet but meaningful to me... and I think, to the tree.

Last year in this, our new house in Ohio, we didn't have any trees, so I "borrowed" the neighbor's gigantic oak which is right beside our driveway, gave it a hug and a pat and said that it would be all right. The cold was going to go away.

This year, I'll have our own trees to reassure at Solstice tomorrow night. We've planted 5 trees on our little city lot. Here they are.

Acer griseum, Paperbark Maple


Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansey', Eastern Redbud


Betula nigra 'Heritage', River Birch


Picea, Spruce (sorry I can't remember the cultivar)


And finally, the fifth young tree is Cercis canadensis, Redbud (a different cultivar from the first one)


So, maybe tomorrow, Monday night, you will think about the miracle of the planet we live on and be happy that the warmth and light will be returning, plants will be growing, all us gardeners will be checking every day to see what is growing and be thrilled when we see that miracle returning again.

Go pat a tree and plant a flower (next spring).

December Bloom Day 2009

I'm so glad Carol from May Dreams Gardens is hosting the Bloom Day each month. It makes me get out and take a look around for blooms.

Pickin's are pretty slim now, but I found a couple surprises.

On December 3, I found this lovely little lady.


On the 13th, this is what I found:

Thank you lovely lady, we'll catch you on the flip side next spring.

I also found this brave little guy, only a little worse for wear.

I've had pansies blooming every month since early last spring. Very interesting year, 2009.

No more blooms but here's a really nice surprise for my garden.

Rosa 'Cinco de Mayo' was not only a wonderful bloomer, but just look how colorful it gets (for a rose) when the deep chill hits.

Happy Holidays everyone.

My Amaryllis Story, the Beginning

Early last January 2009 (maybe late December 2008, I bought an Amaryllis bulb in a package at Lowe's. It was half price or less because it was after Christmas.

I didn't have much hope because there was what appeared to be a dried up baby flower stem.... not developed very far.

But I dutifully put the "soil" in the pot, added water, and finally planted the bulb according to direction. I waited.

Soon large green strappy leaf tips appeared and grew and grew and grew. It was quite pretty, but as I suspected, no flower stem. So I just let the leaves grow and when the summer temps arrived, I put the pot outside on the edge of a planted I created for my Hosta on the north side of my house.


It looked pretty there with the Hosta and seemed happy, so it stayed until frost threatened this fall (October?). I brought it inside, with the still lovely green leaves. I cut the leaves off and let it dry out.

About a week ago or so, I started watering it again. I began by filling the pot with water until it was full to the top. For a couple days, I added more water to the top until the soil could absorb no more. Then I waited.

I didn't have to wait long. With in 5 days or so, a tiny green pointed top appeared. Now today it's over an inch tall.

When I hold it up to the light there is another similar shaped green thing "inside" the first on which now it rather large. (Excuse my thumb)


So I'm waiting again. I don't know whether the new (here invisible) green point will be a flower stem or another leaf. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'll keep you posted.

EDIT: Here is an excellent link on how to care for Amaryllis bulbs to get them to rebloom. I did some of these things. I only found the link today (12/11/09)

Decorating for the holidays

We have our little house all spruced up for the holidays. It's dressed for all the holidays of this season, Christmas, Hannuka, Kwanzaa, Guadalupe Day, Santa Lucia Day, Boxing Day and St. Stephen's Day, New Year's Day, Hogmanay and any other December holidays that I may have missed including by own personal thanks for allowing us all to renew and grow again for another year.


We have a Christmas house in the daylight also, red roof and green shutters.


And a closer view of our deck.