Leaves / Ice
I had a nice little walk in the woods today with the dog. We don’t have any snow, but there is ice.
Beach Flower
It is wonderful to come to a place in the month of January where wild plants are still flowering. In all our miles of walking the beach, this was the only blossom we have seen.
Anyone out there have any idea what plant this is?
Pansy / Cyclamen
Even with the recent freezing nights, there are still some pansies in bloom outside.
This cyclamen lives outside in the warm months, and we bring it in before the first freeze. It always starts blooming as soon as it comes in the house.
To those of you who celebrate the day, have a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving.
Acorn
Olive and I had a nice walk in the woods today. There are so many oak leaves on the ground, and lots of acorns. It looks like rain later today, and then another sunny day tomorrow.
If there is water to be found, she will be in it.
DC Tidal Basin
Peter and I were hoping for some cherry blossom action today, but it was about a week too early. It was a beautiful day for a stroll, and the crowds were out. As we were starting to walk around the Tidal Basin I asked him if he knew anything about Fanne Fox and Wilbur Mills and the famous incident that happened in 1974. I was hoping for a “History Happened Here” plaque, but no such luck so we sat on a bench overlooking the water and read about it on my phone. What a great story, and the amazing thing is that Mills won his next reelection campaign in spite of it all.
As I mentioned, the blossoms were just about ready to pop.
The only ones that were out were on this tree, and there was a queue to get the shot.
When I was a kid, I used to love playing around with cherry tree sap. I haven’t thought about doing that for ages.
We were thrilled to stumble across the new Martin Luther King Jr. monument. It is really powerful, with lots of King quotes sprinkled about.
We kept on walking around the tidal basin and soon came to the FDR Memorial, which we had also never seen. I love this sign for the restrooms. Kind of surprising that they didn’t include an ideogram of someone in a wheelchair.
Peter is fascinated by World War II, and we always stop by the memorial. What a lovely day. DC is fantastic.
2015 Smith College Bulb Show
The annual Smith College Spring Bulb Show always runs early in March, and Cris and I were able to go this morning.
It is always amazing.
After the winter we have had here in the Northeast, walking into a greenhouse and seeing these flowers is beyond description.
There are always tons of tulips.
As well as tiny little guys like these ↑.
Some of the tulips have these erose edges. So delicate.
I love how these little flowers are lined up in a row.
That’s a pretty tulip ↑.
Though I always gravitate more toward the greens and yellows.
And there are usually a few that are showing off the business parts of the flower. To me, it feels a bit like I’m seeing something that should be private.
I’ll close out with a couple of tulips.
Thinking of Hank, as I know he has a Smith College connection. Hi Hank, wish you were here.
Paperwhites, Again
This batch is just starting to blossom. Five bulbs for less than 5 bucks. It is simply the easiest and cheapest way to momentarily escape the winter. A glass bowl, some small stones, a few bulbs, a bit of water, et voila!
S C J U I L G F O W T
I was walking on the beach today at low tide and saw this piece of plant that had washed up sometime earlier in the day. A pretty perfect “S”, and I thought that it could be the start of a collection of naturally occurring letters. A few minutes later, I saw this “C”.
Well, I thought, another one for the collection. And then, this “J”.
I ended up walking about 5 miles on the beach, looking for letters.
This “U” is nice with the leaves still attached; sort of like the “S”.
I’m calling this one ↑ an “I”
Nice to have found an “L”. So useful at times.
It might be stretching it a bit to call the one above a “G”, but hey, it works for me.
No question though, this is a lovely “F”
This one came pretty close to being a “Q”, but an “O” is much more useful (although we did have a “U” to go with the “Q”).
This is just barely a “W”, and it even has a little flower attached.
And finally, this somewhat stylized “T”.
I am a pretty lame Scrabble player, but I try to do the Times crossword everyday. As I was walking back from the beach I thought it might be nice to see how many words could be made from these letters. S C J U I L G F O W T. It is a good mix of vowels and consonants. If you want to join in, post your words in the comments section.
I am wishing all of you a fantastic, productive, and peaceful 2015. Cheers, Jon
Flowering Plant
As you can tell from the title of this post, I am clueless about the names of plants that we have.
And our method for taking care of them is quite simple; inside in the winter with not too much watering, outside in the summer to let nature take its course.
At the end of last winter this plant was showing no signs of life. We put it outside anyway and it came back with a vengeance. It is now flowering like a champ.
Sunday Evening
I made this corn chowder recipe tonight. Perfect for a cold Sunday. I always buy extra ears of sweet corn during the summer and freeze what we don’t eat for days like this. Very nice; give it a try sometime.
One of the great things about the suitcases project is hearing from people who find other work that is related to institutionalization. Charlie Seton sent me this link today. What an interesting project. Thanks Charlie. And my great buddy Hank who has been following the suitcases from the beginning sent this link about Letchworth Village in Rockland County. It is interesting to me that surnames are used on the commemorative plaque.
I know some of you know a lot about plants. I started seeing these guys in the early Autumn. I don’t think they are plants that lost their leaves; I am quite sure that this is the whole deal.
And I have discovered some new trails above the house. Before the snow last week I saw a few of these evergreen-like plants that I have never seen before. If any of you can help identify them, I would love to know.
Sorry the top is out of focus. I only had my phone with me and as this little guy was only a few inches long, there wasn’t much depth of field.
Wishing you all a great week, my dear online friends.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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