Poinsettias

Poinsettias are a frequent sight this time of year. They are a welcome large bloom in the shortest days of the year and seem to be included in more displays every year. It does not seem that long ago that we only saw red ones but now they come in all shades between white and red. I’ve been collecting images for this post over the past week or so. The large colorful parts of the plants are actually bracts…with the flower of the plant being the small structures surrounded by the colorful bracts. The undersides of the bracts often have prominent veins that may be a different color than the other tissue. Enjoy the varieties of poinsettia in the slide show below…they’re a colorful part of the winter holiday!

Frozen Days

We have already had some very cold days in Maryland this year - where the temperature did not get above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. That has prompted some thinking about the cold weather to come. What will I do differently than last winter?

I’ll empty the bird bath in the late afternoon or early evening on very cold nights and then refill it in the morning before I have breakfast. That habit would provide liquid water at sunrise and a few hours afterward for the birds when they are usually active around our deck. The bird feeder is hanging nearby but the bird bath has been very popular the past few weeks (when it isn’t frozen like it was when I took the photograph).

There will be a snowflake photography kit kept in a plastic container on the deck so I won’t have to wait for everything to cool down before I can get snowflake pictures. It will include: colored glass plates and a jewelers loupe.

An old coat and scarf will be kept in the trunk of my car. It is very easy to misjudge the cold when I am leaving the house since the car is in a garage. I’ve become more aware that a scarf makes a huge difference on bitter cold - or windy - days. I should also try to replace clogs with closed shoes. I rediscovered hiking boots last winter and wear them particularly on cold days when I know I will be outdoors.

I'll wear leggings under my jeans when I am outdoors on very cold days. They work better for me than long underwear! 

Hot drinks are always welcome on cold days. Tea has been my hot drink of choice for years but I am changing to hot water flavored with ginger root and lemon this year.

That’s about it for now….I’ll probably come up with more as the cold of the season deepens.

Houseplants

I have three houseplants on the table in front of the breakfast area window - complete with a grow light to support their growth through the winter.

My experimental plant is ginger. A root that I had purchased to add to stir fries sprouted - and I cut off the two areas that sprouted and put the pieces in soil. They have done very well. The original sprouts now are stems and leaves...and there are additional sprouts at the base.

The aloe that had gotten way to large is survived by some smaller versions of itself as my second houseplant. How long will it be before these small ones graduate to the parent’s pot?

So far the sweet potato vines that I rooted in water and then planted in soil are not doing well at all. It is very frustrating. My goal had been to have three pots of the vines so that I could harvest the occasional leave to add to winter salads. Right now they are acting like they preferred to stay in water rather than grow in soil.

Still these few plants are my brace against the coming drabness outdoors. Right now there is still a lot of leaf color but it won’t be long before the color variety in the outdoor scene will be dominated by browns and piney greens….until it snows and we’ll enjoy the clean white for a few days.

Aloe Harvest

I made the decision in September to not bring the big pot of aloe back indoors for the winter. It overwhelmed the breakfast area last year. By mid-October when we started having some cooler days, I dug up two small plants that had come up from the roots of the parent and moved them to smaller pots that would easily fit on the plant table in front of a sunny window this winter.

I also harvested some of the larger plant. Instead of doing a lot of work peeling the pieces - I cut them in small wedges to expose the gooey pulp and piled them into ice trays to be frozen. Now the aloe cubes are popped out of the trays and stored in the freezer in a gallon Ziploc bag. My plan is to thaw a cube frequently to pamper skin and hair all winter long.

Snowflakes - February 2014

It snowed a bit longer than forecast yesterday morning. The snow did not stick to the streets or sidewalks; the heat from the previous days was held in the concrete and asphalt. But on the grass and roofs and wooden decks, the big flakes accumulated quickly. The temperature was just below freezing. It did not seem like the best day to try photographing snowflakes but I put the red glass plate, a towel and loupes outside to cool down. I’d learned previously that the camera battery was sensitive to cold so I put it in my coat pocket instead.

After waiting for 15 minutes in the warmth of the house and watching the snow, I made a first attempt. It was not successful sing the red glass plate. The snowflakes melted as soon as they landed on the plate. It needed more time to cool down. I tried using the underside of an old aluminum pan that had been left on the deck. Success! The ‘flakes’ turned out to be conglomerations of snowflakes so they had much more of a three dimensional quality. I took the series of pictures below before retreating inside to give the red plate more time to cool down.

The wait was worth it! Yes - the flakes were clumped. Yes - it was warm enough that there could be no dawdling to get the image before they melted. But - I enjoyed capturing the flakes. Some of them reminded me of jacks. I find myself hoping that we have a few more snows this season so that I can try again! This particular snow had mostly melted away before the end of the day.