Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Top 9 for 2009

Why is it that, on this date every year, time always seems to have flown by? Looking back at calendar entries and scrolling through pictures I can start to recall interminable weeks of rain and … Read more.

Embarrassment of riches

I am always blown away by the extravagant abundance surrounding the holidays – even when my family makes the annual decision to “go easy this year”. But it occurs to me that I should really … Read more.

I’m dreaming of a white solstice

This weekend’s blizzard dropped an immeasurable foot or two of snow at Blithewold and sculpted it in great drifts and wavelets. No need for dreaming (though the song is spinning endlessly in my head) because … Read more.

The pumphouse

Before doing anything that takes significant creative energy it usually feels very important all of a sudden to make sure that the closets are clean and the dishes have been done. That’s my preferred procrastination … Read more.

Few and far between

Mid-December blooms shouldn’t be easy to come by. I’m actually pleased to report that the kniphofias have finally fallen and as you can see the astrantia, sturdy old thing, is looking a little on the … Read more.

I surrender

I have had a particularly hard time letting go of summer this year and submitting to the possibility of winter. Perhaps my difficulty is rooted in the fact that summer itself seems reluctant to put … Read more.

Annual (weather) events

As a New Englander I can be pretty certain that the garden will be hit by a frost … sometime … and over the course of the fall, we coastal New Englanders can reasonably expect … Read more.

Bone structure

It is generally acknowledged that the difference between being temporarily pretty and eternally beautiful has something to do with bone structure. Like our own skin, which may or may not be wrapped around a Katherine … Read more.