Saturday, November 21, 2009

Cats

I've been bird watching all morning. I can hardly relieve how sunny and clear it is for a day, late in November.

As I write, the house is being floated by tiny speaks of gold—magical rays of sun purging the usual gloominess; dancing above the once again blooming geranium...
The birds are as happy as they can be and the sky, amazingly blue and clear as it could be. I can hear my little feathered friends chirping happy songs, they’re everywhere, making the red leaves fall… While contemplating my world outside the window, I’m listening to the pure, haunting tone of the Native American flute and lush harmonies of strings of classic Nakai melodies from one of my favorite CDs. It feels so peaceful, and I’m basking in the serene atmosphere surrounding me...

Until... All of the sudden a unanimous flapping of wings... A new air, frigid and unfriendly, sweeps the garden floor… I looked around trying to find the source of the sudden tremor…. until I saw her…
“Morning”—again in my garden, again frightening my birds away…. She swiftly moves, creeping, like a reptor, so as to hide from her victims, and waits patiently amidst the silent butterfly bushes….
“Morning”, is how I’ve named my new kitty friend. As I don’t know her real name, or who she belongs to or where she comes from, she is mine... and that’s the name I’ve chosen for her…. She seems to love my garden. I’ve seen her on many occasion basking in the sunshine among the faded roses, laughing at the birds, under the bushes, or like today, suddenly emerging… from nowhere.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Winter pleasures

Outside is cold and gloomy... I woke up this morning to curls of fog, almost like ghosts unfurling and traveling the garden floor, breathing in the austerity of early winter... now winter nights increase the number of their hours, and clouds during the day dress themselves in gray... let candles glow and chimneys blaze...
...and lets cozy up with gardening books by the window, and pretty cups overflowing with our favorite hot drinks...

Sweet tea, hot chocolate or our own fancy coffee drinks to warm our spirit! Mine, a yummy Cappuccino, sprinkled with raw sugar, please!

Summer has his joys, winter his delights!
Do you look forward to winter months? What do you like about winter?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A day in my life

7:06 a.m. – Good morning, morning!

Outside is still dark, but there is a magical glow… the garden beyond the window is shimmering, peacefulness reposes in the form of white beams of lights on bare tree branches and naked bushes... the land had been purified with the first snow of the year.

7:08 a.m. – the magic of light

The house is dark, but I would not turn on the ceiling lights... I prefer the soft and subdued lighting that let my mind wander amidst the beauty of my surroundings, softening the rough edges, bringing inner peace. And so, I start turning on some lights—a small lamp here in this corner, a group of candles over the mantle—the shadows softly evaporating into the nothingness… it’s a magical moment—me, the shadows and the mistiness of my cozy house.

7:15 a.m. – Evidence of coffee

I love the aroma of coffee wafting through my early morning kitchen… I love the quiet spirit of the house in the wee hours of the morning, the soft murkiness that rests over each object, like a magical shawl embracing forms and shapes, and how, as the morning advances, natural light from outside starts creeping in through the window in magical shades....

7:30 a.m – The day starts

I’d never ever leave it unmade... Is a made bed a morning must in your house? Or is it about as common as a blue moon? I need to know that it's been made—tightly tucked sheets and perfectly placed pillows.

8:00 a.m. -- Breakfast by Mike!

Spanish Tortilla! A slow cooked, thick omelette with potato filling. So simple but so delicious! As far as authenticity is concerned, Spaniards would have you believe that the only filling to the Tortilla was potatoes. But a sprinkling of spinach brings color to the Tortilla as well as making good use of whatever vegetables are available.

Today I am wearing my new scarf... I have bought two new scarves and several winter tights in all sort of interesting patterns. They’d look good with my boots, and with my gray Mary Jane shoes and gray pencil skirt... and I have plans for our guess bedroom. I’m in the mood for painting. I think I’m going to paint the big bed in white.

The geraniums by the window in my kitchen are blooming again.

And outside, facing the geraniums, the last of the roses are covered in icicles...
I have peace in my heart.

Thankfulness:

I have created an altar in my heart in thankfulness for all the blessings bestow upon my house... Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.


Thursday, November 12, 2009

My autumnal garden

Autumn is quickly heading towards winter. And so the garden pulls up its winter cloak and leans into the frosty winds of December...

The Callery Pear is always a bit slow in redressing itself for the changing seasons, it has retain its lovely garments in the colors of golds, and bright oranges, and burnt burgundies, longer than its counterparts, the Flowering Crab Apple, Flowering Plum and tall Birch... their naked branches silently swaying in the air like a skeleton’s boney arms...The ground has turned clammy, covered in leaves and ready for dormancy.

They’re so much to discover here: little secret places, leave-covered fairy holes under the butterfly bush, underbrush awaken by magic in the early morning... the garden has become a poet’s palettes of sensations and emotions.... pretty soon it will be like waking from a dream and stepping out into the world once again.

The birdfeeders had been emptied for a while, but again the birds are finding all sorts of goodies everywhere. They are busy flying around, twittering and fluttering as they find new seeds and a fresh supply of suet to suit their bud taste....

During the shorts cool evenings of autumn, my world turns magical... a weak sun strut by my kitchen window every evening, as he kisses good-night the sleepy garden—swathing it in silence, and a kind of muffled darkness.... when the nights come in, earlier now, I can see the sky layered in the same autumnal colors as the sun goes down, until it becomes blackened with shadows and dark clouds...

Far away, the little houses all dotted with lights make me think of people, and what they’d be doing in their houses that very moment... cooking dinner in kitchens of warm houses, getting little children cozy up in warm, fuzzy footie pajamas, as they begin their imagined evenings. As for me and my man, in a little while we’ll be in bed surrounded by heaps of feathery fluffy white pillows and the night “Sally Holmes-breeze” scratching our window outside.

I just love this time of the year!

ps: Please remember that our Pfaltzgraff giveaway will be ending next Monday, so you still have time to participate. Good luck to ya' all!



Tuesday, November 3, 2009

A magical Saturday

I love Saturdays… have I mentioned that before? Oh yes, I've said it a million times before and I'll probably say it a million more. But what can I do? Saturdays, like autumn, bestow opulence and magic upon the earth, and I love every minute of every hour of every Saturday…. and this last Saturday of October was especially magical…. It truly was!

We woke up in Portland. Breakfast at Noah's Bagels, with a lightly roasted Chelsea coffee, flavored with vanilla and hazelnut… the rainy night had been replaced by a misty morning and outside our window the world is wet and grayish-blue, carefree and romantic and I’m here, with the man I love...

Witches were everywhere too, one of them stopped by to say hi… It was the morning of Halloween, and green eye cats flew by with their witches on their ragged broom...

After breakfast we headed out to the rose garden, but first we went for our customary morning stroll through lovely and tranquil little streets with enchanted path down to mossy slopes and gorgeous historic homes in the Victorian and Craftsman styles… sweet powerful feelings bring me to this house every time we're in Portland. Do you think maybe I could had lived here before? I mean, in another time far from my own time maybe? 

I had never been to the rose garden in the autumn. There is something magical lingering in the air. It’s the end of October --the month of enchantment and delightful endeavors--, the garden sleeps under a magical spell, it doesn’t feel the same, it doesn’t smell the same, no petals in bright reds to enchant, no lovely pinks or morning sun yellows to captivate the eye… only faded beauty and roses of yesterday in some fragrant treasure chest hidden in my memory.

No, today things are different, only the unthinkable become noticeable; the eternal remains… the garden is blanketed in a quiet repose, not a soul to be seen, charmed ripples of water at my feet… a light mist falling down from the sky, like playful fingers on my hair, and at the end of a path, slick with leaves and cold with damp (can you see it?), a fairy’s house stands midst the sleepy heads of Heaven on Earth now past their prime, and tiny goblins and leprechaun are dancing where the April in Paris used to sing like little birds back in May…

Between the woozy sun and light mist, grasses and soaring trees are whispering tiny things…. Only I can hear it –I thought– but suddenly, there she was, like an apparition! And I knew all too well she could hear it too!

Who was she? Where had she come from? Alone and mysterious, amidst the faded glories in the quiet garden, unique yet unprepossessing, I immediately fell under her spell. A walk together with my man, without an umbrella, stomping in the puddles beneath drooping leaves was already enchantment--overflowing enchantment! But I’m subdued by her spell, and unable to follow any other path but the one that leads to her, as in a trance, I hurry to meet her... Even more mysterious things happened then.... but that's another story to tell... "Some day shall we two try to find this strange enchanted place? Go hand in hand through flower-lit woods where living trees embrace--and suddenly, as in a dream, behold a fairy's face!" (Author Unknown.)

Rainy misty days are so romantic… my hair is damped, our fingers entwined, and far away in the greenest hill I discovered --we’re not alone-- another couple divinely indivisible!

What a delightful feeling the garden bestows, rivulets of enchantment falling down from the sky in tiny musky fairy dust… heavy and delicate together. Then the Shakespeare Garden opens to us, and there they were: 

The sleepy hydrangeas whispering and waving, colorless among the ferns and fairy leaves as big as elephant ears. Trees... greens, dark and subtle…

The world is an enchanted place, nature fragile and fading, the leaves bleached of color and ready to flutter off at the first strong wind... everywhere I look, a magical universe is waiting to be discovered.
Then, more magic: A secret fairy path covered with fallen autumn leaves....

It leads to a place of wonders... I follow the leave covered trail, sweetness pours from everywhere, flutes and mist fill the air… Leaves the color of golden-yellow, crisp and curled, brown, gold and tan with the suns kiss, a precious web, or butterfly wing…
A woman-no, a woman-child frolics with invisible sprites and soars among autumn leaves... What could be more alluring than the thought of walking amidst falling leaves on the already leaf-covered ground?

Oh yes, today is not the beauty of the roses what delights… is the charm that comes with autumn and the conjuring mystery and thrill that comes with the falling leaves and the color of the autumnal land…
Oh, most beautiful day and season!