Country roads

Maya and "Roger" already keeping up with the big girls...

Adelina and Maya

"The paintbrushes were hung by the chimney with care..."

The pictures were sent from Amanda, and nice to see Tom's signature paintbrush garland along the house eaves again.   Not much snow on the ground there yet, but the Methow Valley is looking Christmassy. 

After last week's storms blew through Seattle, we had a spectacular, sunny weekend.  I went for a trail ride on Saturday morning with Dolly and we had friends over for Sunday lunch. The Seahawks won. Puget Sound wintertime doesn't get much better than that.  The house is decorated, packages mailed, presents under the tree and now the cookie baking starts.  Final countdown to Christmas.

Poinsettia Day

The windstorm was pretty bad in other parts of the city, but it just got a little breezy here last night. I gave my poor old eyes a sabbatical from computer screens yesterday, but I'm back in time for National Poinsettia Day, one of the few whacky holidays officially declared by an Act of Congress.

The poinsettia is native to Mexico and National Poinsettia Day is in honor of  Joel Roberts Poinsett, who died on December 12, 1851. Poinsett was the first Ambassador to Mexico.  I think the world might be a better place today if more foreign statesmen were also amateur botanists.  Poinsett shipped some cuttings back to his plantation in Charleston and gave them out as gifts to friends. 

Since then, both the wild types and the cultivars have spread throughout the tropical world.  Albert Ecke emigrated from Germany to California in 1900 and he became fascinated with poinsettias and sold them from street stands. His grandson was eventually responsible for making the association between the plant and Christmas. He sent free plants to television stations in Hollywood to display from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and appeared on Christmas specials to promote the plants.

A wild poinsettia has a somewhat weedy look, but for years the Ecke family had a virtual monopoly  on poinsettia growing owing to their secret technique that produced fuller, more compact plants.

In another lifetime I worked as a florist, and must have made thousands of bows for potted poinsettias at Christmas.  There is a common misconception that poinsettias are deadly poisonous, and customers believed a single leaf would kill poor kitty. Nothing could convince them otherwise and it's one of the more enduring urban legends.  I don't recommend putting them in salad, but the ancient Aztecs actually used poinsettia sap for medicinal purposes.

It wouldn't be Christmas without them.

A small world

Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic. 

from Little Gidding,  T.S. Eliot

  Camellia Yuletide

Some of the rain and wind hitting the Northwest this week originated in those giant Pacific typhoons.  It's strangely warm for December and the temperature this early morning hour is close to 60.  The weathermen have whipped themselves into a frenzy over a potentially major wind storm Thursday.  It's unclear if the Puget Sound area will be affected, but the Oregon coast is in for a pounding.

Years ago we planted an expensive winter-blooming camellia called Yuletide which didn't live up to the hype.  Most winters it just sits there like a green lump, but this year the thing is covered with flowers. Camellias thrive in the southern states, so they should like our new climate.

The nice thing about camellias is they bloom when few other plants do -- in late fall, winter, or early spring.  The bad thing about camellias is you aren't out in your cold, sopping garden then to appreciate them.  That's why people used to plant them smack up against the front door.  I cut a few for the house and they last a long time in water.

Here's another cheerful winter sight, sent from Amanda.  Nova posing with their beautiful Christmas tree.

The first Christmas card

Today is Christmas Card Day in honor of Sir Henry Cole (1818-1874) who created the first commercial Christmas card in 1843. He worked at the English Public Post Office, and wondered how the new postal service could be used by ordinary people.  Sir Henry and his artist friend John Horsley designed the first Christmas cards and sold them for a shilling each.

To put that in perspective, Scrooge paid his clerk Bob Crachett 15 shillings a week to support a family of six.  It was possible to live on 8 shillings a week in Victorian England, so I wonder how many "ordinary" people bought the first Christmas cards.  If you were lucky enough to receive one, it would have been carefully displayed and saved. Only a few were printed so the originals are worth thousands of dollars now.   

The first Christmas card (above) had three panels:  the outer drawings showed people caring for the poor and in the center panel a family is having a lavish Christmas dinner.  If you look closely, a child is drinking a glass of wine!  Or maybe grape Kool-Aid.

Just a few decades ago, sending Christmas cards through the mail was a holiday must. Many people have stopped sending them for understandable reasons.  I love Christmas cards (sending and receiving) and ours are on the dining table waiting to be addressed, which takes me a while.  I had nice handwriting once, but I notice every year it gets worse.

The only thing better than a personally signed Christmas card is a Christmas card with a handwritten note enclosed. Or one that includes a snapshot of their kids you haven't seen since last year's card.  This removes any doubt in your mind that time is indeed "flying by."

And the only thing better than the above mentioned holiday snail-mail is a real letter showing up (which the average person receives every 7 weeks) like the one that arrived yesterday from my brother-in-law in Mexico, containing some generous comments about this simple blog.  Thank you, Dan for taking the time to write a real one.

Hard rain's gonna fall

Belle

Last week at the barn in North Bend, there was a foot of snow on the ground and the temperature didn't go above freezing for days. The pastures were slippery and wet, so the horses stayed in their stalls unless they were being ridden in the small indoor arena.  I didn't bother to make the long drive and I missed my routine. 

I suppose arena riding is better than no riding at all, and the best riders never get bored going round in circles because they're always challenging themselves and their horses to learn new things.  The serious dressage riders I've known find trail-riding dull, not to mention a waste of good training time.  

But riders of a lazier persuasion enjoy nothing better than a quiet amble in the woods.  So Dolly and I were happy to finally get out for a ride again on Sunday morning.  Of course Belle and Spanky would have preferred to stay in the barn with their friends eating hay.

North Bend isn't technically a rain forest, but the woods around the barn look just like this. In the winter light it's like riding along the floor of a green, mossy ocean. And this weird weather!  After last week's harsh cold the soft air and filtered sunshine felt more like an early spring day.  

This morning is still partially clear in Seattle, but my peek view west toward the Olympic Mountains looks mighty dark and ominous.  The weathermen say inches upon inches of warm rain (and record high temperatures) are headed our way.  It's going to be a wet and sticky week.

Holiday season weekend

Nova

Santa dropped by the Twisp Grange Hall on Saturday and Amanda sent us a few pictures. Maya is conspicuously absent, being much less impressed with the jolly old elf than her older sister.

I spent yesterday, the Feast Day of St. Nicholas, decorating tree and house.  A big job,  and I was going to spread it over two days this year but got on a roll.  Done.

These cute little elves I bought in a Cripple Creek last spring look happy now that Christmas is here and they can finally come out of the bookcase.