Category: a simple garden

a simple garden · January brings the snow · rhythm of a simple spirit · Winter

A tree is a friend for life

A spirit of simplicity4 Comments

Tu B’Shavat, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates trees. I am not Jewish so I asked a few friends about how they celebrate. From what I gather it is a holiday that isn’t very widely celebrated here.

In my classroom full of toddlers, we talked about the trees giving apples, oranges, mangoes, and bananas and also how trees give homes to squirrels, birds, and other animals. Our school campus is on an old tree farm so we have a few quite large old trees which are very beautiful.

I picked up a lichen covered branch that had fallen down in a recent storm and brought it into our classroom. Then, I cut out leaf shapes from finger print paintings the children did. We spent our circle time decorating our tree and singing happy birthday.

I think it’s important to teach our children to honor the natural world around them.

I also think it’s important to teach our children to honor other cultures and customs.

This was a win-win in our toddler class.

Nature Notes

communal Global

wordless Wednesday

a simple garden · In the garden · January brings the snow · Out and about · Winter

a sojourner amongst mosses and lichens or Toadstools and other fungi

A spirit of simplicity4 Comments

Let your focus shift to the scale of a dewdrop, the forest landscape now becomes the blurred wallpaper, only a backdrop to the distinctive moss microcosm.

–Robin Wall Kimmerer

-a microcosm, in case you were wondering is defined as, “a community, place, or situation in miniture the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger.”

A sojourner is defined as, “temporary resident”

Nature notes

Communal Global

Wordless Wednesday

a simple garden · beloved · Hopie · March brings breezes · purple day · Winter

Hope

A spirit of simplicity3 Comments

The good

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago. It took me a bit to get used to it but I really like it now! It’s so easy in the morning!

The fun:

Tiny flowers are blooming along the sidewalk gardens. Spring as usual, is a bit coquettish in her ways and teases us with warm weather one day and freezing for the next week…but, two steps forward and one step back still get us there so we mustn’t give up hope all together.

The random:

My sister had to have heart surgery to repair a prolapsed mitral valve last week and was in hospital for the week and only just got home last evening. In addition, when they did follow-up scans for the radiation that she had back in October, they found another small spot of cancer on the other side of her iliac joint. She has stage 4 colon cancer and she will now be facing her third round of radiation (in different spots) and her 4th round of chemo. This will be a different type of chemo and the doctor is hopeful. We are hopeful as well because that is what we have.

The good, the random, the fun

a simple garden · Autumn · Dull November · home · Orange day · purple day

Staying home

A spirit of simplicity2 Comments

Though it’s only just November and not yet quite Thanksgiving, I have illuminated each of the windows in our flat with electric Christmas candles and one of our bedroom windows is bedecked with a felt, leaf and berry wreath. I spruced up the bed with a folkish and colourful pine tree quilt and a throw pillow for the Prince of Peace. Tucker, our cat, is resting comfortably on the freshly made bed. It’s one of his favourite cat-napping spots.

I was searching for a white poinsettia at the plant nursery and saw this bright pink variety instead. I’ve seen artificial poinsettias in all kinds of colours but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a real one in such a beautiful pink. It’s perfect for my bedside table.

I will wait till Thanksgiving weekend to grace the rest of our home for Christmas. It is my tradition to hang the greens on Black Friday. I prefer to avoid the department stores and malls at this time of year and instead concentrate on centering our home on the peace and joy that the season brings.

Please feel free to use my Mr. Linky meme to add a link to your blog. Your post can have anything to do with staying home. Perhaps you are a stay at home mum or perhaps you work full time, as I do. Your children might be sweet little toddlers, teenagers, or they may be full grown adults with children of their own as mine are. Maybe your house is big and beautiful and perfectly decorated or maybe it’s a tiny apartment like mine. Let’s stop the glorification of busy and take a moment to celebrate what contentment there is in staying home.

Make it pretty Monday

Home and garden Thursday

a simple garden · Autumn · home · Monday · Seeking Sabbath

Window boxes and railings

A spirit of simplicity1 Comment

There is one single windowbox at our house. It sits on the top of the railing that goes downstairs into the backyard.

All summer I had geranium in it and they grew so beautifully.

We can see out this back door from the living room and when I sit on the end of the bed to put my socks on in the morning I can see the reflection through the bathroom mirror. It looked so pretty.

I thought that it would be torn down when the staircase was replaced over the summer. But…they ran out of time and have decided it is best to wait for the spring before replacing the staircase. So we get to keep the window box for a while longer.

There are lights on the branches and now that it’s getting dark earlier they will be quite pretty lit up.

~What do you put in your window boxes? Or near your doorways?

I have winterberry and a type of holly with small white pumpkins. I also picked up a beautiful, lichen covered brand that had blown down from the neighbor’s house in a recent storm. I went to the nursery in town looking for mums but they were sold out. I got what they had and I am very happy with how it turned out.

Make it pretty Monday

Home and garden Thursday

A wise woman builds her home

a simple garden · Autumn · home · Monday · Tucker

Gathering the kitchen garden

A spirit of simplicity2 Comments

The good

Pork roast with fresh herbs from the garden

The fun

I sure do love this cat, Tucker. I was curled up on the couch reading on Thursday afternoon and he came curling up around my leg and held down my ankle with his paw, lest I should try to escape and ruin all the cozy warmth. The school where I work was cancelled because a storm in the night caused a widespread power outage.

The random

Sunday afternoon turned warm and rather sunny. I potted the Rosemary and brought it indoors to overwinter and I potted some of the parsley and gave it a sunny spot on the kitchen table.

The good, the random, the fun