Ten Days of Little Celebrations - October 2012

Back in mid-August I posted about finding things to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and getting into the habit of writing it down each day reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

Sleeping late. The night had gotten cold and we didn’t have the heat coming on yet. It was so wonderful to stay under the warm blankets just a little longer than usual.

A rainy day. I like to work when it is raining. There is no temptation to get outdoors and the little bit of noise from the rain on the roof provides the white noise to keep my focus on whatever I am doing. It’s a day to where concentration comes easily.

Pink mushrooms in the grass. Mushrooms seem to come up very quickly after a rain. These were almost hidden in the grass. At first I thought they were scraps of fall leaves. But from the side or underneath ---- they were this wonder color.

Watkins Glen. A beautiful place any time but I enjoyed it in the fall.

Corning Museum of Glass.  I like glass in just about all its forms. Every time I go to this museum I find some other beautiful piece that I’d failed to notice before.

Home again. I always celebrate the first day back home even if I was only gone a relatively short time.

Writing 3,000 words to start a short story. I’ve signed up to participate in the National Novel Writing Month in November. So - I am busily practicing writing something every day and preparing a chapter by chapter outline to be ready to get 50,000 words written in November. Writing a 3,000 word chunk of a short story in a day was one of my practices that was successful! Hurray!

Sweet potato harvest. The weather dictated that it was time. It’s a lot like unwrapping a present although, in this case, you know there will be sweet potatoes. The surprise is how many there might be and how big are they.

Magnificent maple seen on the drive to the grocery store. Sometimes a path we take frequently has something of temporarily extraordinary beauty: in this case - a tree that has a glorious week every year in the fall….and somehow I always notice it.

Bean soup. Humble fare that was exactly what I wanted on a cool fall day.

Favorite Smells of Fall

What are your favorite smells of fall?

The smells I most strongly associate with fall are:

Leaf tea. The smell of wet leaves and pine needles on walks through the neighborhood or hikes through a forest are earthy and often very much like black tea and herbal teas. They remind me of how much I like hot tea as the weather turns colder.

Harvested herbs like basil and mint. I let them dry on a tray in the kitchen before storing them away for use all during the winter.

Pumpkin pie baking. The wafts of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger are so appealing whether they are the real thing or in candle form.

Roses. Roses tend to burst into bloom when the summer heat wanes. They have a wonderful last hurray in fall before the frost takes them.

What are your favorite smells of fall?

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 13, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

IGNITE - Inspiring Girls Now In Technology Evolution - the program in Seattle schools that is a best practice for educating young women about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, well documented and is spreading to other school systems. There is a toolkit available.

Prairie seeds - a collection of seed pile pictures - guess what they are! The answers are at the bottom of the post. The rose hips are the only truly easy one!

Fall prairie pictures - from the Prairie Ecologist

Evolution of Milkweed Eating Insects - I actually propagated milkweed at the woods edge in my yard….for the monarch caterpillars!

Doctors Speak out About Unnecessary Care as Cost Put at $800 Billion a Year - As a patient….how does one distinguish the unnecessary care? How many times has a side effect from unnecessary medical treatment created another problem? This is not only expensive…it is also dangerous to health.

Nora Denzel Keynote Speech at Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2012 - youtube video

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2012 wiki - links to information about each talk

Coursera - take the world’s best courses, online, for free

Extreme Weather Photo Contest Winners - From NASA. Shelf clouds, thunderstorm, walls of dust, lightning

Is reading in the dark bad for your eyesight? - It depends. Take a look at a summary of research on the topic.

The Beauties of Early Fall

As we walked around the Smithsonian Mall and the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC, the plantings were representative of ones that are truly at their best in this area just before the leaves turn and then fall. The roses like the cooler weather. The grasses have full seed heads. The asters show their blue and purple color liberally. The dogwoods lead the color change and the winterberry has bright red berries that contrasts with the green leaves still on the bush. There may not be as many butterflies but the ones that are still around may be easier to see because they don’t flutter as rapidly in the cooler temperatures. Enjoy the slide show of these beauties of early fall and celebrate fall!

Monarch butterfly

Grass

Dogwood

Persimmon

Winterberry

Aster

Rose

Flower glow illusion

Celebrating October 2012

What do you celebrate in October? Here are some ideas:

Apples and squash. The new harvest is in and apples are at their best. There are a large number of varieties to try other than ‘Delicious’ – so experiment and find a new favorite! Many communities host festivals that feature the produce of fall and fresh apple cider or apple butter.....and all those colorful squashes.

Foliage. Take a drive or a hike through a forest of deciduous trees. Timing it just right is always a challenge – but easier now that there are so many web sites that predict the peak color and even have pictures of areas.

Leaves. Play in piles of leaves. Yes – the raking is a chore…but make it into a fun activity while you are at it.

Cooler weather. After the swelter of summer and even September – October has some very welcome cooler days. Celebrate with some outdoor activities and enjoy a picnic.

Halloween. Buy those bags of candy and be prepared to offer a treats to all those goblins that come knocking! We purchased a plastic jack-o-lantern that looks like the real thing years ago; turned out to be a great purchase to decorate the front porch for the big night.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations

Back in mid-August I posted about finding things to celebrate each day. It’s been remarkably easy for me. Here’s what I’ve recorded for 10 days:

Sunlight through the trees. Being out and about on a late summer morning with the sun making an ordinary forest of trees look magical.

A family birthday. Not one where everyone can gather to celebrate. This was a savoring of relationships that last a lifetime.

Butterfly stake and solar powered sunflower for the garden…. and the sunflower lit up the 1st night! We had gone to the nursery to buy azaleas; we’d read they could be planted in the early fall or early spring. We were advised that in our area the fall planting is not advised (winter too harsh). While we were there we looked at the various garden ornaments and bought two of them. They’re both visible from the window over the kitchen sink.

Labor day with hot dogs and corn on the cob and watermelon. Food and celebration go together.

Finding treasure under a bathroom sink - a long lost spritzer of leave-in-conditioner. Isn’t it wonderful to find something you forgot you had….and actually decide it’s something you want!

Black swallowtail caterpillars. They showed up on my parsley plant. Earlier in the season, I might not have celebrated. But I enjoyed photographing them and they’ve already made their cocoons --- and I still have about half my parsley plant left.

Getting rid of stuff via donation. I almost filled the porch on the pick up day. It’s good to clean out at least once a season.

Talking to family on the phone. I started out calling one then another called me almost as soon as I hung up from the first call. For a family scattered all over the country - it’s good to catch up on what’s happening in our lives.

Finding out that a friend who had been very ill is better. It’s scary when a friend is seriously ill…and cause for celebration when they improve.

Doodling oninterfacing-like fabric). I have been doodling on scraps of paper but discovered some scraps of interfacing as I was cleaning out. I celebrated the results of sharpie and interfacing doodling!

Blog: September Celebrations

September begins tomorrow. What do you celebrate in September? Here are some items that are listed on my calendar.

Labor Day on 9/3. It makes a 3 day weekend for many in the US. Even though summer is not officially over until later in the month - Labor Day is typically the last hurrah of summer. Schools are starting and swimming pools are closing. Celebrate with end of summer foods like watermelon and corn on the cob.

Grandparents Day on 9/9 in the US. If you have grandparents living, this is a prompt to celebrate your relationship with them by sharing some aspect of your day with them. If your grandparents are deceased, acknowledge the legacy they left and their positive influence on your life.

First Day of Autumn on 9/22. In most parts of the US, the majority of leaves will still be green but this is a good time to get organized for cooler weather - deciding on additions/deletions for your fall wardrobe - and to plan a fall foliage excursion for the appropriate time in your area. Celebrate the change in seasons.

And - there are two Jewish holidays celebrated in September 

• Rosh Hashanah on 9/17.
• Yom Kippur on 9/26.

Charmed by the Unexpected

Have you ever noticed how the something unexpected transforms an ordinary time or place into something extraordinary? It happened to me yesterday when I was pulling weeds and trimming bushes.

First I noticed a discarded cicada skin. The sun was shining on it like a spot light.

Then as I was taking the buckets of clippings back to the forest, I noticed a very large spider web suspended from the maple tree and anchored to the ground. Again - the sun was shining on it like a spot light. There were lots of flying insects around the web and the blank places in the web structure show that the spider had already been very successful with this particular web placement. By the time I came back with my camera the spider has disappeared (probably up into the tree) but the web was still magnificent. It was my little celebration for yesterday!

Longwood’s Indoor Children’s Garden

On a recent day at Longwood Gardens, I got to the conservatory early. Surprise! - There were no children in the Indoor Children’s Garden. Normally it is a very popular part of the conservatory and there is no easy way to photograph its features. The photographs in this post are the results of that little serendipity (and my most significant ‘celebration’ for the day!).

The garden was redesigned/upgraded several years ago. The conservatory had an area for children even 20 years ago that my daughter enjoyed; the things she liked the most have been doubled and redoubled in the new garden - lots of water for little hands, musical instruments, sculptures and mosaics…low ceilings and narrow stairways….all with a nature theme.

Little Celebrations of Each Day

Finding a way to be happy about life is easier if we celebrate - even in a small way - each day. Sure - there will still be the more substantial celebrations that happen less often but, for me, the little celebrations are more closely linked to feeling happy.

I am starting a project to write down one thing I celebrated at the end of each day to become more overt about recognizing and acknowledging the little celebrations. I’ve looked back over my notes for the past few days and picked one thing that stood out. Basically - I have a lot to celebrate so picking only one thing may be the challenge rather that searching for something.

Yesterday the little celebration was seeing one of the heron chicks from Sapsucker Woods on the heron cam. It was such a short few months ago that the chicks were just hatched and looking very fragile in their high nest…with owl attacks.

On Friday, I celebrated being able to eat banana. This may not be a celebration for many people but bananas made me violently ill for many years and I only recently discovered that I can eat them again. They are a great ingredient in smoothies.

On Thursday, I celebrated because there were a lot more iris rhizomes in my garden than I thought there were. They had not bloomed very well in the weed clogged and shady location but they were still making rhizomes every effectively. They will make a beautiful display next spring/early summer in their new location.

On Wednesday, I finally got around to asking my husband here the converted videos from our daughter’s babyhood were located on his computer and did some early celebrating of her 23rd birthday by watching some video of her 1st.

What have you celebrated today?

August Celebrations

August begins tomorrow. What do you celebrate in August? Here are some ideas:

Watermelon. Locally grown watermelons are ripe in many areas. Check out your farmers market. I’ve always thought that the large and long ones with black seeds had the best flavor but they’re hard to find any more. August is the month to enjoy watermelon in whatever form you choose to buy it.

End of Summer Vacation. August is the time that many people take vacations before the busy fall activities (school and increased work schedules) start. Even if you don’t take off a whole week - plan a mini-vacation/day trip to someplace that helps you glory in the warmth of summer - usually someplace with water like a beach, a lake, a river.

Start of the School Year. Yes - the start of the school is in August for some people and the reason I have it on the celebration list is that some actually do like the beginning of the school year…and the new clothes/supplies that go with it.

Two full moons. This is special to this particular August. It turns out there are two full moons: on the 2nd and 31st of this August. Take your binoculars out if the night is clear and enjoy the summer night. 

Favorite Smells of Summer

What are your favorite smells of summer?

The smells I most strongly associate with summer are:

Fresh herbs from the garden - either outdoors while I am gardening or indoors when I am preparing a meal that includes them. Mint, rosemary, and basil are my favorites.

I like the smell at the beginning of rain. In the summer - there is so much vegetation where I live that the smells are rich and vary considerably…but they always remind me of crisp greenery and warmth.

Citrus. Somehow citrus is a summer sun smell to me. I like orange and lemon. There are a lot of products that include the scent. I love to have orange zest drying in my kitchen giving the whole kitchen its smell (and then using it in a stir fry or baking….and getting the smell again).

Cucumber. It has a very light scent…but certainly one that is cool in the midst summer heat and brightness.

What are your favorite smells of summer?

July Celebrations

July begins tomorrow. What is there to celebrate in July? Here are some ideas.

Independence Day in the US. The official day is July 4th. Have your own celebration with a family gathering or join your community for a celebration with a crowd. Our local celebration is a street festival followed by fireworks on July 7th. Last year we almost missed it (because we didn’t realize it was no on the 4th!) so we were looking for the flyer in the snail mail when it came. We’re set to load the lawn chairs in the car and get a great spot to relax and enjoy the show just after dark!

Summer and water. When it’s hot - getting wet is a welcome respite. Think about spending some time at the beach or the swimming pool. Alternatively - keep spray misters or water pistols handy for those times when the family is outdoors and needs a quick cool down.

Cherries. My favorite fruit for July is cherries and I keep the supply going as long as they are reasonably priced. I save watermelon for August although I like it so well that I buy it in July if the price is right. And what about the orange fleshed honey dew melons! They’ve just made an appearance this year in my local grocery although I’ve been reading about them. It’s easy to find foods for celebrating in July.

Early morning walks. It’s so hot later in the day that the early morning may be the only time to get out and about comfortably. Celebrate hearing the birds chattering - since they are usually at their liveliest in the morning.

June Celebrations

June begins today. What is there to celebrate in June? Here are some ideas.

Flag Day. The day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the US in June 1777. It has been a celebration for a long time in some places but I didn’t become aware of it until one year when there had been a lot of snow days and my daughter’s elementary school was still in session in mid-June! They gathered the children around the flag pole in the front of the school for a short ceremony which parents were invited to attend as well.

Father’s Day. It’s Sunday, June 17th. Take the opportunity to show your appreciation to the men in your life - particularly your fathers and grandfathers (and help your children think of something their Dad would enjoy from them).

First Day of Summer….the day of longest daylight in the Northern Hemisphere…is June 20th.

Strawberries and blueberries. These are the early fruits of summer across much of the US. They are tasty by themselves, in salads or desserts, or in smoothies. June is probably the easiest month of the year to eat healthy!

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day - a three day weekend for most of us.

It is a day to remember those that sacrificed for our country. Many communities have events that are a combination of solemn (flags on graves, wreaths at tombs) and celebration (parades). Events that bring people together in a commemorative activity - like the Rolling Thunder of motorcycles in Washington DC - are popular.

It's a good time of year for doing things outdoors so Memorial Day is often used as the 'kickoff' for summer. For years - hot dogs cooked on a grill have been our traditional Memorial Day meal. I've made a few changes toward 'healthier' this year: better quality hot dogs, no bun, Mrs. Dash on the corn rather than salt, a veggie side. Later in the summer, more of the veggies will come from our garden or local farm. This early in the season, the only thing on the plate from our garden is the Italian parsley!

Enjoy your Memorial Day!

Mother's Day

Today is Mother’s Day. How are you celebrating? 

• Telephone calls
• Flowers
• Cards
• Other gifts 

The most meaningful ways to express appreciation of our mothers are often quite simple and this day is just a prompt for us to think about it a bit more than usual. As a mother - I also have the perspective of being grateful for the richness being a mother has brought to my life.

Today - I am enjoying the freshness of newly painted walls at my house - anticipating that all of them will be done by mid-week. The painters started on Friday so we are in the middle of the project; the painters are taking the day off (to be with their mothers!) so we’ll take advantage of the day to get furniture and drapery back to normal in the rooms that are finished. I’ll post more about our experience in another post. What does painting have to do with Mother’s Day? It’s a ‘one time’ convergence of the day on the calendar with a home improvement project! I find myself celebrating the newness the fresh paint gives the rooms and the clean that comes from moving furniture and thoroughly vacuuming underneath.

As a mother - my celebration continues next week when my daughter arrives for a visit. We’ve received a box of something addressed to her - which she specifically said to not open until she gets here. I’ll buy some flowers for the table after the painters finish.

As a daughter - I called my mother early. I won’t see her until June so I sent an early card with an IOU for a dinner out while I am there.

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

May Celebrations

May begins tomorrow. What is there to celebrate? Here are some ideas.

Spring. Yes - spring is already well along in most parts of the US - particularly this year. It is still worth celebrating. Spring Festivals or May Day celebrations are held in many areas of the country. Take advantage of a pretty day and spend some hours enjoying the new greenery outdoors.

Memorial Day. Toward the end of the month - there is the three day Memorial Day weekend that officially kicks off the ‘summer’ with the opening of swimming pools. Of course - the holiday also has a serious side too: honoring all those that fought and died serving in the US Armed Forces.

End of School Year. Anyone still in school has the end of the school year to celebrate. College students my end their spring semester by mid-May and most K-12 school systems are ending at the end of the month or in early June (so the end it well within sight in May). Whether or now it is a ‘graduation’ year….consider a “school’s out” celebration.

Farmers Markets Opening. Look around for your local farmers’ market. Generally they open in May. There may be early crops - like strawberries - at your local ‘pick your own’ farm. I know the sign near me says the strawberries are going to be early this year (mid-May versus end of May). Hurray for Strawberries!

April Celebrations

April is just about here. What is there to celebrate? Here are some ideas:

Wild Flowers. This is the time of year that many wild plants bloom; hikes to photograph then are a beautiful way to celebration spring. Don’t forget the flowering trees as well - dogwoods and redbuds are my favorites. Information about the wild flower festival in Smokey Mountain National Park can be found here. The one in Shenandoah National Park is planned for early May but the program schedule is already published and could be used to plan your own hikes in the park in late April.

Kites. March is the month most associated with kites but many communities hold kite festivals into April and early May when it is a bit warmer and still breezy.

Palm Sunday on the 1st, Good Friday and Passover on the 6th, and Easter on the 8th.  Observe the days in April that sustain your spiritual health.

Gardens. Formal gardens are greening in April too. Depending on the area of the country - there could be rows and rows of tulips or iris just getting ready to bloom of camelias. This time of year orchards are quite beautiful as well - full of blooms. Just as with the wild flowers - noticing the unfurling of spring is a great way to celebrate spring time.

Spring Break. Some schools have already taken a spring break…others have it early in April. A mini-vacation before the sprint to the end of the spring semester is always welcome. Celebrations can be as simple in a picnic in a local park on a warm day. In many parts of the country, showers are frequent in the spring so have a backup plan for if the day turns rainy and cool (or cold!).

Earth Day on the 22nd. Some communities have celebrations or festivals associated with Earth Day. One in my area is at Brookside Gardens.

Daffodils

The annual blooming of the daffodils is near its end in Maryland. They’ve bloomed alongside hyacinths - after the crocus and before the tulips. There are much larger numbers daffodils than any of the other spring bulbs. Everyone recognizes their familiar blooms.

The bulbs are planted in yards, along roadsides, at the edge of forests or rocky creeks…just about any place that is not swampy. Sometimes they are in small clumps, sometimes they make a neat row, sometimes it is easy to tell that small clumps have merged into an amoeboid shaped profusion of blooms. The daffodils seen frequently are all yellow or yellow and white. They can be miniature - a few inches high - to a foot high; the taller ones sometimes lean over after a rain because the water catches in the flower and makes it too heavy for the stem.

They bloom year after year with little tending. Their bulbs do not attract squirrels or other rodents so the gardener need only dig them up and enlarge the bed periodically to keep them from getting too crowded - it’s easy to tell when this needs to be done because they stop blooming as profusely.

March Celebrations

March is just about here. What is there to celebrate? Here are some ideas:

St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th. You don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the green. My favorite green drink is a mint chocolate milk shake but there are plenty of others. Celtic fiddle music and dancing also are popular ways to celebrate the day.

Kites. March is breezy and the temperatures getting a bit warmer make is easier to indulge in outdoor activities. March is a great month to dig out the kites from the closet and enjoy their flutters overhead. Many communities have kite festivals during March. The one in Washington DC is associated with the Cherry Blossom Festival and will be held on 3/31.

Cherry blossoms (and other flowering trees). Washington DC is celebrating 100 years of the gift from Japan this year so there are a lot of extra events from March through mid-April. The dogwoods and fruit trees will begin to bloom in many parts of the country in March … so take a walking or driving tour through an area where they grow.
 

Early flowers. Crocus, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips…the early blooms of the year. Celebrate spring in a garden - either your own or a public one.