Putting It All Back in Its Place

Today Tom and I cleaned house. We even got into some corners that we have neglected before. No, we were not completely thorough. We did not get into cupboards and closets. After all, if you can't see it, you can ignore it. Right? 

Cupboards and closets do need to be sorted through, but that will be another day, or days. Blogger Connie asked us a few days ago to think about a one word intention for 2018.  I finally came up with one - Reduce. Of course that means weight, which despite all my exercising, is creeping back on. But it also means culling and getting rid of stuff hiding in those cupboards and closets, and out in the garage, and even in the garden, as we move toward a lower maintenance planting scheme.

So, back to today. We cleaned. And then we put things back where they live eleven months of the year. One of those big jobs is getting the pottery collection out of the places it was stored to make room for the Santa collection and get it back on the shelves. 

Some was stored in an upstairs closet. That meant lots of trips up and down the stairs. A month ago I hauled it all up there. This time Tom brought it all down. It is much safer for me carry things up than down.  

 Some was stored in a tub in the garage. 

 And now it is all back in place.

 Each time I display it, the arrangement is different, but that collection of pueblo pottery always gets its own shelf.

And now I think we are done, everything back in place. Oh, and yes, I did find one Christmas thing that got left on a wall. It got stuck in a drawer. 

I also went grocery shopping and did my floor exercises and walked 2.75 miles today. 

I think my place will be in my recliner this evening. 

And We Stuffed It All Up

It was our last act in putting away Christmas. Kinda' made me think of the Grinch. 

This week we have worked on taking down and packing up all of our Christmas decorations. I started with the easy stuff, the garlands and buffet in the dining room and then the kitchen. Yesterday I packed up all of the Santa collection and all of the this and thats, here and theres on the walls and tables, while Tom took down all of the outside lights. 

 Then today we packed up all of the decorations on our two trees, and we stuffed the tree back in its box. 

All of the rest, the tubs and boxes, were carried out to the garage.

Then we opened the hatch and pulled down the ladder to the attic. I hefted the tubs up as high as I could, Tom grabbed them from the top of the ladder, and we stuffed them all up. 

Now they are all arranged in their assigned places up there.

We even had enough energy left to clean the family room floor of debris and move the furniture back in the places it occupies eleven months of the year. 

Tomorrow we will clean house. Then I have some putting back to do.

And then we will be done. Christmas is over. We enjoyed it for a full month and it was wonderful. We can look forward to doing it all again next year, and for as long as we can still stuff it all up and get it all back down again. 

What's Blooming in the Garden on January 1st.

While I have skipped a few years, it has been somewhat of a tradition to photograph anything I can find blooming in our garden on the first day of a new year. I got the idea from an English gardener I read about in a gardening magazine years ago.

Some years, if we have had a deep freeze, there will be little or nothing in bloom, but this year, as is common, we have only had light frost so far, even though we have had snow. 

Even so, one must look closely to find some blooms. Here is what I found. 

 Daisy fleabane - Erigeron

 a wall pocket campanula

Roses

 Fun guy (OK, fungi)

 Primroses

Kaffir lily (Schizostylis coccinea)

 Winter jasmine

 Hebe

 Hydrangea

 winter blooming cyclamen just popping up

 Sarcococca buds just about ready to pop, releasing a sweet vanilla scent.

 Skimmia

 Golden feverfew

One tiny bloom of Basket of Gold (Aurinia saxatilis)

Venturing into Tom's greenhouse, I found geraniums blooming.

All of the blooms outside are subject to the vagaries of Mother Nature. Inside the green house, Tom is in charge.

We'll see how it all turns out. 

Starting the New Year Off Outside

We walk almost every day, usually here in our neighborhood. On New Years Day, weather permitting, I like to get us out of the neighborhood for a destination walk. We never drive very far, but far enough for a change of scenery.

There are many places to walk along the Green River, down in the valley below us. I like the scenery along a back road along the river. 

We start at the Old Fishing Hole, where the ducks seemed to expect a hand out. 

 There are some wonderful old maple trees along this road, which provides access to very few properties anymore. 

 When we started out, a cold fog engulfed us.

 As the winter sun burned through sometime after 11:00, the brush along the river banks was lit up. 

 Mt Rainier was just a ghost of a mountain through the lingering fog.

What is that crop? Tom risked the mud to find out. Kale, with the leaves harvested, leaving just the stalks. 

 And what's this one?

 We got close, picked a leaf and smelled it. Cilantro! Lots of cilantro. 

At about a mile and a half, we turned around, rather than doing the whole 4.5 mile loop. My knees have been giving me trouble. We crossed over the river on a footbridge to pick up the pathway along the golf course side of the river. 

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, it had warmed up to about 38 degrees, and we had our 3+ mile walk. 

Starting the new year off right.