Garden
Ferida's Wolff's Back Yard: Do Robins Herald Spring? Squirrel on the Roof; Winter and Baking
In the midst of Winter it is always easy to pine for Spring but then we often ache for Summer and its swimming weather only to welcome Autumn for the heat-relief it brings. Then Winter calls to skiers, sledders, and everyone for holiday fun. The year's variety, while it can be challenging, is emotionally bracing. It adds variety to our days and a sense of movement to our lives; almost like a well-written novel, it keeps us intrigued about what will happen next. more »
"A Painter Built On the Substructure of An Engineer": Portraits in Design, Beatrix Farrand as Mentor at the National Building Museum
"Beatrix Farrand was America’s finest landscape garden designer. Her most extensive project, Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, DC, has been described as ranking with 'the greatest gardens in the world.' Her career and her work continue to be an inspiration today. She has long been a role model for many women in the landscape design field who have followed her." more »
Cold Comfort: Evaluating My Thermal Clothing for Inside the House
Joan L. Cannon writes: For what seemed at the time, and still seems, a perfectly logical reason I decided to grit my teeth (both literally and figuratively) and move. Not just down the block, or even just to another street — but to another state. More accurately, to move back to a state where I'd spent most of my adult life. Unfortunately, this meant leaving "the Deep South" and returning to southern New England. Right about now it feels like the southern Arctic. more »
Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Hydrangea in Winter; Passenger Pigeons, Extinct; Coping With Winter
It is the hydrangea bush, though, that is speaking to me now. I know some hydrangeas need shelter but mine have had an unsheltered life and still bloom. It reminds me that we all have things in life that are challenging and yet there is the hidden drive to blossom when we can, to let our inner selves support us until the right time comes to let the world see our beauty; a New Jersey Museum commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of Martha, the very last passenger pigeon. more »