Field Trip :: West Virginia

We hit the road last week for a change of scenery and some rest. Also, for direct access to a pool. Swimming in a heated pool or soaking in a hot tub - surrounded by windows looking out to the weather and the snow - is my idea of supreme indulgence.

We spent a few days at Blackwater Falls Lodge, visited White Grass, hiked the trails around the lodge, watched some cable TV (!!) and ate pancakes for breakfast every morning. We are realizing that we need to plan some sort of adventure in late January-early February to stave off the winter blah-blah-blahs.

The trip certainly shook the dust out of my brain and I am embracing the work routine and ready to get back to home and garden projects. More on those things soon.

In the meantime, I am freelance garden blogging over at Breathe Magazine these days. Please visit!

Life Outside of the Garden

Every-once-in-a-while I take a break from gardening. I do!

Lately, while the rain has been pattering away outside - making light of my garden chores, I have retreated to my sewing room/studio. My favorite thing right now is gathering up vintage pieces that I have collected and altering them in some way. I am also doing alterations to items from my closet that weren't being worn - and I adjusted them to increase their time in the rotation. Like taking long sleeved tunics and making them into gathered, cap sleeve tunics.

So these designs from YMC of England caught my eye - as I would love to add the details onto simple A-line skirt patterns for my next nighttime 1980's movie/sewing project. Buttons, pockets and pockets with trim. Not too much to tackle, right?

Not allowed to completely forget about the garden, last night I ended up having vivid dreams of our vegetable gardens being ransacked by pests that ate everything. Everything! Some people have nightmares about all of their teeth falling out or arriving to class naked. Me? I dream about garden disappointments and disasters. It could be worse.

February Foiled

A friend once told me to never make any major life decisions during the month of February - when cabin fever makes you (irrationally) think about changing pretty much everything in your life (like hair styles and color, living room arrangements, job situations). Instead, he said to hold tight 'till spring, when things (almost) always look better, brighter and more manageable.

A few distractions to bring us 'round to spring then? Yes!

I spent time during yesterday's lunch hour buying seed starting stuff - for our cold frame experiment - greens and lettuce. I'll just be setting the flats in our south facing windows. I found the perfect spray bottle, too - so Willa can help with the watering.

A Hoya plant. I cleaned out a few very tired, beat-up, defeated houseplants over the past few weeks and have room for a new tenant.

Forced bulbs. The more, the merrier. The sooner, the better.

Innisfree is selling plants this year! My checklist includes borage for our herb garden, Green Envy zinnias, chocolate mint, hollyhocks, elderberry, woodland phlox and tomatoes - Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, German Johnson and Mortgage Lifter. It was difficult not checking off *every* offering.

I'm talking about container veggie gardens, seed bombs and (next week) figs over at Virginia Living Magazine's blog.

Not really related to gardening, but making February a little brighter:

I'm making a ragdoll for Willa's birthday. She pretty much always has some soft little creature in her arms lately. I'm especially excited about all the clothing I can make for the doll and how I can embroider the face.

Have I mentioned The Snowman here, yet? We have been watching it a lot during our snow days - though our copy is VHS and it is starting to give up the ghost. It is all music, no dialogue. It's magic.

I'm getting ready to start my first Edna O'Brien book. I'm actually not sure this will be so uplifting as probably more moody and Irish.

This chicken and biscuits recipe is a nice stout meal for winter days. I've been making it for years now and was happy to see Willa loving it, too, this season. Ina tends to have a heavy hand with the butter and cream - so I cut the butter in half and replace it with olive oil and it totally works.

This baby silhouette tutorial is so quick and easy. After capturing Willa's, I'm thinking of lining up the three hounds for their own personal sessions.

DIY :: Clove-Spiked Oranges

Anyone else make these during their childhood?

Just take an orange, tangerine or clementine and push whole cloves through their skin (whole cloves have a ready-made spike on one end). The smell is fantastic and energizing during the middle of winter. Children will have fun creating designs or faces . . . we made a swirl and a star-of-sorts.

Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery

Sleep out in Sugar Hollow has been at a premium lately. I cringe thinking about what I lay to waste in my sleep-deprived wake. I don't understand how this works - how you are expected to take care of a vulnerable, precious little human being while walking around as if you are one of the living dead.

More soon on gardening goodness. I promise. Because I need it, too.

But for now, I will focus on getting a shower in here and there, showing up to my day job in something that looks clean (maybe even pressed) and getting a good meal at least once a day. A meal that someone else has cooked. Followed by chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Finishing the day with an episode of The House of Eliott. And asleep by 9. I mean 8. I mean . . . whenever I pass out on the couch.

Walderkindergartens

Also known as forest or wood kindergartens, Walderkindergartens focus on children (usually ages four through six) attending a daycare that is held exclusively outside. The antithesis to computers and video games and TVs! My kind of school.

Children spend their days exploring, gathering toys from nature and enjoying their preschool without a ceiling. Low temperatures and rain don't necessarily chase them indoors.

I first read about these kindergartens in this month's issue of Mothering Magazine. There is also a terrific story about German walderkindergartens (with gorgeous photos) from the Wall Street Journal.

Wishing somebody would offer something like this in Charlottesville (anyone? anyone?). Willa and I *will* be going to a new outdoor class for wee ones on Wednesday afternoons at the Ivy Creek Natural Area for stories, crafts, songs and explorations. Starting tomorrow. Willa has no idea what she is in for. But this mama, can't wait.

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Photo from here.