Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts

February 28, 2013

February is Almost Over!

Out of all of the months, February always seems like the longest. The days fly by but each day is dreary. In December, we are enchanted by the snow flurries. In January, we are excited for the big snows. But by February, little buds protruding from the dirty slush of old snow make us wish spring would just force its way in.  

Devil's Den Gettysburg

Unfortunately for us this year, we didn't have any grand snows. The kind where there's nothing that can be done but taking a shovel to your drive way and drinking a cup of hot cocoa to assuage your raw fingers.  It snowed a lot but typically just an inch which melted and was replaced by another inch the next day. On days it didn't snow, it was too cold to go outside for any length of time.

But I am positive this time that spring is finally coming. The claustrophobic blanket of snow and ice is dripping, giving way to the beautiful colors of spring and I can't be more excited.    
                                                                                    

































I hope everyone is as excited as I am. I have lots of things planned for this year and can't wait to get back outside. I find that the stagnation of the season always leads to stagnation of the mind. I always walk out into spring feeling rusty and sore from disuse but enthusiasm usually counteracts it. 

December 6, 2010

It's Too Cold to Post!

I keep trying to type but my hands keep getting so cold, I have to pile blankets on myself and wait for them to defrost. We had our first bit of flurries on Thanksgiving and more are expected tonight and tomorrow.

It was so warm last week I can't believe that it has changed to bleak gray skies and dry air. It's finally starting to feel like the yuletide season. I am readying myself for gingerbread houses. I found a great tutorial to make miniature gingerbread houses that go with hot chocolate here: Not Martha.

Gingerbread houses became popular in Germany after Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm published the German folktale, Hansel and Gretel in 1812. Honey is traditionally the main sweetener in German "lebkuchen" houses. In Hansel and Gretel,the antagonist a cannibalistic witch lives in a big house made entirely of candies and cake.

Some interesting gingerbread houses:


Those houses are amazing, aren't they? Keep warm and enjoy some cocoa and gingerbread. Here are some photos of the Colonial Plantation house decorated for Christmas. I did some knitting by the fire the day I took these. My yarn smells like a wood-burning stove but it's a cozy smell for it to have.





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