Winter Wears On

I never did hear any reasons for the weird winter we're having this year. Is it El Niño, La Niña? Whatever it is, I feel like this is what a Seattle winter must be like. We've had endless gloomy, gray, rainy days, and almost zero snow. I am no longer a winter hater, but this "winter lite" has been tough  on me. I need sunshine! And snow is much more pleasant to look at than all this gloom.

But here it is, the end of February, and spring is trying to arrive without winter ever really getting here first. My crocus is in bloom, and the pansy pot never really stopped blooming from last fall. I'm sure the other early bulbs will follow quickly.

However, the chilly rain keeps us from enjoying the outdoors very often. I'm still hunkered down planning next years garden, and working on my winter crafts. The seed catalogs have been studied, lists made, and all seeds are purchased for the year. I just love to think about how all my vegetables and flowers are waiting for me inside these packets.

Since outdoor gardening is out of the question in winter, that's when I concentrate on my craft projects. I do a little bit of rock painting, and even taught the garden club how to make these cute ladybug rocks for the garden. But mostly I crochet. Since it's too warm to have a big crochet afghan laying on your lap in the summer, I try to do all those in the winter.

Winter is also a good time to explore the city. I heard about this strange and weird crochet art piece at the Columbus Museum of Art, so I was off to check it out. It was every bit as delightful as I thought it would be! The artist collected various cast off pieces and connected them into these Dr. Seuss style shapes. Of course I looked at more traditional art while I was there, but the crochet pieces were definitely my favorite.

Of course I also visit the Franklin Park Conservatory in winter. Their focus is orchids this time of year, and they were especially lovely this year.

Sometimes I just plain enjoy being home and cozy in the winter. I don't cook very often, but when I do, it's usually soup. I went really outside the box and made this Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil soup, and it was one of the most delicious soups I've ever had. I'll definitely be making it again. If you want to try it out, you can find the recipe here. Be careful with the cayenne, I used much less than the recipe calls for.

Needless to say, I use flower bouquets at home to remind me of my garden.

Once in awhile, the skies clear and we see a sunset. Winter wears on, but it is winding down. By the time I post here again, I'll have bulbs aplenty blooming, and winter should be on its way out. And hopefully there will be many more sunsets to see.

Not Much Garden

Well, I completely missed the month of December here in Robin’s Nest. That’s not like me! But December was exceptionally busy this year, and I just couldn’t get around to tending my blog. I mostly keep it for myself these days, people don’t seem to follow blogs much anymore. Instagram has further reduced our attention spans, and allows us to share quick bits, instead of a whole month’s worth like my blog. But onward! Still I like to summarize my garden and/or home life here most months. And I’ll continue to do so. But do check out my Instagram page, it’s a more immediate glimpse of the pretty spots in my life. Click here to check it out. msrobin58

This is about the closest thing to gardening that you’ll see around here in the winter. Since we rarely celebrate Christmas at home, I tend to put more energy into my outdoor decorating, since others can see it. I'll keep these greens on display until March, only removing the big red Christmas ball. Maybe I should take down the red and black buffalo plaid ribbon on my wreath too. Do you think it screams Christmas?

That being said, this year we did have holiday company! We usually see our family in Detroit over the holidays, but this year the kids and grandkids came for a Columbus celebration, and I was in my glory. Honestly, that’s what made me crazy with Christmas preparations this year, which is what kept me away from my blogging. We had a wonderful visit, with eating, baking, playing, crafting, and opening presents. So this year I actually put out all of our decorations that had been gathering dust, including a real live Christmas tree. It was a tiny little thing, but I still loved it.

I never even made it to Franklin Park Conservatory this year, and had to content myself with seeing the photos of their fabulous holiday displays that others had posted. I did go to the tree lighting ceremony at Easton Town Center, which made me feel like I was inside of a Hallmark movie. It was crazy busy with people, but I loved it so much that I plan to fight the crowds again next year.

After Christmas is Cozy Season for me, and I very much enjoy the slower pace. I do more cooking, and work intently on my crafts. I’ve even made a list of projects and gifts to compete for the upcoming year, to keep me on task.

But the biggest crochet project I ever did was my temperature blanket for 2019, and I finished it exactly on time on December 31st. You choose your own color theme, usually with colors that coordinate with the high temperature each day. I chose cool colors for cool weather, warmer colors for summer. Each day, you check the high temperature in your chosen location, then stitch a row in the color that represents that temperature. Because there will be 365 rows, you know it will be a large blanket. So I simply used single crochet with a small hook, to keep it from getting too large. Still it ended up six feet long! This blanket now rests at the end of our bed. I had fun making it, but by year’s end, I had grown weary of stitching it. There are over 69,000 stitches in this thing, and that's an awful lot of stitching.

I do have a single spot of garden to share with you, even though it’s January. You see, we are having a crazy mild winter so far, and my autumn container of ornamental kale and pansies is still blooming and looking pretty! I’m sure we’ll get some real winter eventually, but meanwhile, I’m loving it.

I’ll close as I often do with some sunsets. I never do tired of watching the sun set, as you can surely tell if you follow any of my photos on social media. In the winter, the sun sets directly over the waters of the nearby ponds, so I’m there frequently to capture the sight. Winter sunsets seem particularly intense here, so I've seen some real beauties lately. Thanks for stopping by my blog, hope you’ll leave some comments so I know if anyone is actually visiting.