Belated white Christmas!

 Here we are, sitting happily surrounded by beautiful, fluffy white snow - two days late, but appreciated, nonetheless. It actually seems good to have the snow back. The temperature is pretty normal for this time of the year, starting off in the low 20s this morning and now is closing in on 30 degrees. It is still snowing lightly, very pretty. I measured seven inches at 9 this morning and we've had at least another inch since then. It is so light, if there is even a light wind later today, it will conjure up a blizzard! 

I want to share another video with you - not a Christmas video, but one that middle son, Bob Dimick, (Jamie Dimick's brother Bill's brother!) just produced. Turn on your speakers and tap HERE to watch. Bob does all his own music in his home studio; Nate Somers shot the video last summer. 

I had a very nice conversation with Joe's Ponder James Farmer yesterday. I enjoy getting a call out of the blue like that - he called to thank me for this blog. I'm still always surprised that people seem to enjoy it - and keep reading! I'm very appreciative, believe me. 

I had a note from Andy Rudin this morning with a little story about how he raises geraniums from seed each year to bring to Joe's Pond. He confessed that sometimes he has "harvested" seeds from others' plants in late summer. I won't mention names. However, that reminded me of years ago when Fred and I were living at camp year around and we walked on West Shore Road nearly every day. In the fall, as campers closed up and left the pond, they would often empty their beautiful planters and window boxes in the woods across the road from their camps. I sometimes "rescued" those plants and enjoyed them for months and I often took cuttings, or "slips" that grew into healthy plants. I couldn't help feeling sorry for those still healthy plants that were left to die in the woods each fall, and I enjoyed them as house plants well into the winter. 

Fred never quite understood my pleasure in having house plants, but he did appreciate our joint efforts having a vegetable garden for many years. My father always had a huge garden - he was, after all, a farmer. And I enjoyed working with him in the garden when I was growing up. But I also come from a long line of house plant lovers; my mother and all six of her sisters had plants that they kept and nurtured for years. They shared "slips" and tips on how best to grow them successfully. Those who had room outside had massive flower and vegetable gardens every summer, and again, everyone shared.

Growing flowers was as natural for those Scottish ladies as crocheting, knitting or tatting. I mastered the gardening, crocheting and knitting to some degree, but I was never as good at any of it as each of them. My aunts tried their best to teach me how to turn out fancy, intricate lace designs by tatting, but even though I tried, I continued to produce only hard knots. Fortunately, I have a lovely collection of their hankies with tatting - some lavish and flowing, like whoever tatted it simply forgot to stop. I still pull out one of those pretty, delicate, lace-edged handkerchiefs every now and then to tuck into a jacket pocket with just a little of the lace showing, or sometimes I tuck one into a pocket of my handbag. I think carrying a lacy handkerchief is sort of a lost art. Who does that these days? I never see anyone else with one, but I still enjoy having them in a variety of colors to match or contrast with whatever I'm wearing. I also confess that I keep a delicate sachet in the drawer with the hankies. I don't wear perfume or cologne anymore, but I do enjoy a faint, delicate scent on my hankie. It takes me back to (dare I say it?) a more civilized era when throwaway paper tissues were unheard of. And then there's cloth diapers for babies vs. disposable ones - but t hat's another story.