More Shop stuff

               I’m so late in showing you more pictures of the shop.

                 Oh but before I start I hope everyone had a wonderful

                Thanksgiving!

                  I wanted to do a post but things here have been nuts since we  opened.

                I’ve missed my blogging time and have been going thru

              some real withdrawals.

                              

 

         Having you all in my life really makes some of the hard times

         much easier to get thru.

                I wish I could live in this little blog world that is always

              so welcoming and encouraging.

            But I guess that’s not really possible …

            is it???

                    I wanted to thank you for all the kind words about the Christmas Shop.

                I wish you could all come here too and we could play with my ribbons…

               or something !!!

                 I have a few customers that really “get me”and it’s great when

                I get to see them this time of year.

                  And yes we play with the ribbons….

              amongst other things.

                

                I’ll be quiet now and just let you look.

                I’’ll be going back to finish up a few orders…

               sometimes I feel like an elf working late into the night!!!!

             

 

 

               This was taken at night when almost all the lights were turned off.

                                                

                                             

                      The best picture of ALL!!!!!!

                    George and sweet little Charlotte

The time has come!

                      

         Today was opening day for the Christmas shop.

       A soft opening as I think they call it.

       We’ve always opened the day after Thanksgiving.

      I felt good about being early this year

      …..until you realize that I had wanted to open on the 1st of November.

    …OK only 19 days late

      …who’s counting anyways?

          I still have so much to price and put out but it’s looking Ok

      ….so before things start to get bought up I thought I’d share a little with you.

                 It had been so long since I even took a picture that it felt a little odd at first.

         Like picking up an old friend…

      oh yeah, I remember you. I did have fun trying out a few settings.

Manual!!!! woo hoo

            I was afraid I might forget how to post too.

          BloggerGods must be good to me tonight

     because I’m having none of the usual issues.

              I had these little crowns on the counter ready to be priced. Couldn’t do it last night.

     I had such a mess on this counter….that is still not all cleared off but it never really is.

I was going to photograph it last night at 12:30 to show you how awful it was

            and show you how I’ve had it for months now.

            But I got told from the big Boss that it was time to go….

          so I went to town on it right away.

   

Then suddenly I realized an hour had gone by

…..and yes I was still working on cleaning the counter of all the junk!

But then I thought where the heck is he??

I called him on his cell phone.

No answer!

    For some reason I pictured him somewhere lying there hurt.

     I think I was just too tired and my mind was going….

so I went out to find him.

I won’t keep you in suspense….

he was fine.

…but our furnace in one of the greenhouses wasn’t.

     Figures right??  on the coldest night so far.

Well whatever he did seemed to work.

                thank goodness……I know nothing about furnaces….except to hit the reset button.

         So needless to say I’m a bit tired today.

      …..so I will keep this post short and return with more pictures.

             Oh the good thing is we finally heard from our tree guy.

           The othergood thing was that we didn’t have to give him a 25% deposit like

        all of them expect to hold the order.

          So though they were supposed to arrive today they are on their way.

         I had a customer who used to sell trees once say to me……

           ”dealing with wholesale tree sellers was like dealing with a

        Drug Dealer…..haha

              (not that I would know about any of that!)

          but they can be rather flaky and unreliable!

           Ok now that I’ve given you that “pretty image”

      haha

            I”ll leave you with these last two

       pretty photos!

   opps I mean 3.

   

         And you thought I had no

       Red

             Like this little bear I can’t wait

            until it’s time to hibernate for the Winter.

        Oh I can feel it now. Rolling over in bed and hitting that

        snooze button…..

        for the 10th time!!!!

    Heaven!

( sorry for the small sized font....

I guess blogger wasn't as kind as I thought earlier:)

Snowberries and the Nordic way

                   I’d been waiting since last year to show another

              post about Snowberries.

                 I’m always surprised that so many people don’t know about them.

              I’m no expert on them but I know they are a native plant of

                 Western North America as far north as Alaska.

                  Their fruit is edible but before you get excited they

      have the taste of……. bitter Ivory Soap.

    Birds still do eat them…

reluctantly I’m sure.

 

                    They’re not particularly beautiful the rest of the year but they

                      can grow in a good amount of shade…..but not dry shade.

                    You know the kind where trees roots take up most of the soil. 

                        During hot dry months extra watering is still needed for them to produce the best berries.

   

                          The leaves are now yellow from the cold temperatures

                         but they look so pretty with the blue sky background.

                      No airplanes writing in the sky

                       just some textures to punch it up a little.

          

                         I considered Photo Shopping the blemishes out but I

                 reminded myself that nature is not always perfect and

                 to just leave it the way I saw them that day.

                                 …..plus

                                          my skills were not up to it.

                                              much better at removing wrinkles…

                                   in photos only…. not real life!

                                     If only

            I think it was when I read

         Scandinavian blogs that I began noticing more snowberries.

             One of the first blogs I ever stalked  read was Minna’s

        of  Blomsterverkstad

            which I later found out means

           Flower factory in Swedish

                  I must have gone back and looked at every post

           she ever did studying every detail. 

            I couldn’t read a word. 

          At the time no one used translator buttons but I adored it anyways.

          I’m still trying to figure out what that green vine is that they use everywhere.

….maybe someday and when I do

I’ll be sure to tell my friend Paula.

….she’s dying to know too.

             Snowberries are used often to make beautiful wreaths

                 for the Holidays.

                      ( image by Minna)

              Her style has always had an unfussy natural feel

               and using what is in her own backyard and garden

                 incorporating twigs, mosses, berries and fruit.

                           ( image by Minna)

                                  

                 If the natural way of decorating is your style for the Holidays then

               Jeanne d’ Arc Living 

                  8th issue is where you’ll find great ideas.

                                interesting ways to wrap your presents

                                   Even if you don’t have snow in the Winter like

                              our Nordic friends or us New Englanders you may find some inspirations for warming up the outdoors too.

                                     We had a dusting of the lovely white stuff the other morning but

                                  it disappeared a few hours later.

                             They even closed schools in parts of Connecticut.

                                 Too early for that.

                                Wouldn’t you love one of these fireplaces???

                         I myself, in my life have decorated for Christmas in every kind of style

                      from Victorian to Retro to Country gingham.

                         This style represents a little of all of these in some way but with

                          a sense of harmony with nature that I think speaks to many of us.

                       What is your Style for Christmas this year???

                             Since it’s been ages since I participated in a White Wednesday

                                I’m honored to link up to Kathleen’s Party.

                                  She’s been the hostess of this party for sometime now…

                              must be in the thousands of weeks by now….lol

                          no but a lot!!!!

                             I’m always so impressed with the bloggers that keep a party like this going and

                                 visiting the blogs that link up.

                               So much time and work go into these.

                                      I have met so many wonderful and amazingly talented women and

                       made some long time friends.

                            SO here’s a BIG THANK YOU to you

                          Kathleen

                    

                          Happy Wednesday to you all!

Fall ....LOVE it...even the clean up

                                                                          

                                                                            With beautiful cool temperatures mother nature brings us a riot of color.

                                                                    People come from all around to

                                                                          see the spectacle that is New England’s foliage display.

                                                                           I don’t think there are many of us that don’t like Fall.

                                                                                          It’s the season of more comfortable weather, harvesting crops,

                                                                        county Fairs, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and lets not forget

                                                                           Leaf Clean Up

                                                                              One of my favorite garden chores.

                               

                                                                               We still have a few trees that hold on to their leaves    forever it seems, so we do it in stages.

                                                                              Cutting down the perennials that have yellowed or gone by is usually my job while George

                                                                           works the blower…..

                                                                  the blade cutter, and other “MAN  machines”.

                                                                                   That’s fine with me I do the picky work trimming all the herbaceous plants and shrubs.

                                                                            This time I really was ruthless and not only trimmed but yanked out plants

                                                                        that have gotten too large and just

                                                                                 outlived their usefulness. I’ve wanted to redo our garden for some time now or at least

                                                                       tame it and I did make progress this season

                                                                             but not as much I wanted to hence why I never shared it with you like I had hoped.

                                                                   We designed this garden 15 yrs. ago and while I had changed a few things

                                                                            like the 4 separate beds to 2,  most of it has been the same for sometime.  

                                                                                    There are some plants like our dwarf Japanese maple that I would never get rid of but

                                                                                           that may have to be moved.

                                                                                                I love it even when the leaves have curled a bit after a slight brush with frost.

                                                                                            We had skirted  frost that the rest of the state received.

                                                                                         We just had 28 degrees the other night.

                                                                                               It  had to happen eventually.

                                                                                                Watching the leaves blowing in the air and the sunlight coming through the trees

                                                                                         was such a sight that I ran into the house and grabbed my camera.

                                                                        Unfortunately I missed the right moment but made the best of it.

                                                                                               Yes there were more leaves to fly up in the air but it wasn’t the same.

                                                                                                I found a garden design recently I really like. I rarely look at

                                                                                   Better Homes and Garden magazine

                                                                                         but I was looking at one at a friends house and loved this

                                                                                     colonial garden surrounded with a white picket fence. It didn’t really seem like

                                                                           a possibility since it's not at all laid out like our

                                                                        garden until I looked at it more closely.

                                                               I did want a change after all.

                                                                 It may take us a few years to get it completed but it

                                                                 gives me a goal.

                                                                       

                         

                       

                                                                                                One of the changes will inevitable be to remove all this Liriope or Lily turf or Monkey Grass

                                                                          like they call it down south. I also have some that doesn’t spread like this one “Big Blue”.

                                                                                When I planted this it didn’t have a tag anymore. I figured it out later but

                                                                           throughout it’s life here I’ve loved it, then hated it, then loved it again.

                                                                      Loving it now but it will have to get moved anyways…..

                                                           It never flowered this year which was disappointing but that happened because

                                                         it got a buzz cut with the hedge trimmers during the summer.

                                                         But look how green and glossy it looks now. It’s a mass of flowing green wave of lusciousness

                                                              that sparkles on a beautiful Fall day .

                                                             If you want to see the garden design that we’re going to do….. with of course some modifications

                                               you can take a look

                                        HERE
                                        Hope you're all enjoying the season!

                                        A note about not being around as much.
                                     Still working of the shop. I'm one of those that
                                       gets very easily distracted so though not cold turkey
                                              as this post attests to...... I have dwindled my blogging time to only a few
                                           moments here and there.
                                          Miss you.