Wreathes

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration

is being Wreathed

in SMILES

Author unknown

Traditonal Lines

I've been thinking a lot about how we love to bring into our home this time of year something young and green, something growing. I put wreaths inside and outside my home and I make swags for garden gates. I especially love growing Paper White Narcissus and red or white Amarylis. Except this year my Amarylis are being shy and holding back. Oh well that means the New Year will get its flower. One of my favorite scents of Christmas is the pungent smell of Paper White Narcissus. I usually start them sometime before Thanksgiving or the week following. I have a little bulb nesting area at a south facing window. When the stems sprout I remove them from the nest and place them around the house. All is magic until I awake one morning to this sight.

My solutions vary. Sometimes I prop them up or lean them on nearby furniture. I have read and tried a variety of methods to solve this problem. I have thought of them as Dynamic Diagonal Lines and tried just to accept them. This year I decided to make bouquets of them and move my new crop of Paperwhites into spaces recently vacated.

"The observation of nature is part of an artist's life. It enlarges his form knowledge, keeps him fresh, and feeds inspiration" Henry Moore

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Traditions

I am grateful to friends who remember to get reservations at The Brown Palace so that I can continue to celebrate this season in a time honored fashion. It is best to get them (the reservations) the January before the Holiday season as the tea times become quickly filled. I have lovely memories of times when I did remember to get reservations and hosted my Mother, my Belle Mere and my two daughters when they were much younger. I also have celebrated important birthdays with friends under this stained glass, listening to harp music being performed live. No piped in sounds here.

The Brown Palace opened in 1892 it was built by Henry Cordes Brown who felt Denver needed a grand hotel. This hotel was considered the second most fire proof building in the USA. Where is the first? I don't know. I do know The Brown is built of Colorado red granite and Arizona red sandstone, there are no wood floors and no wooden beams. It is an elegant Italian Renaissance style building and looks especially grand in its Holiday sparkle and glitz. It is a tradition which is worth planning and sharing.

Not Holly Green

I  just had to show you these beautiful colors.  I know this season has theme colors but I had to show you these rich merino wool fibers before they became entangled together into fabric.
My friend Theresa Clowes whose work can be found at http://www.theresaclowes.etsy.com/  gave a felted scarf workshop at Platte Forum in Denver.

What a peaceful afternoon spent with interesting people as they carefully selected colors which appealed most to them  . Watching the participants interact with these luscious textural colors and then to see a variety of color patterns emerge was fascinating. I will share a few with you here.

We laid fiber out on a polyester film and then rolled it up, immersing the roll in hot water and gently twisting and turning making the hairs of the wool bond together.

The completed piece was an open lace scarf about four feet in length. Now I am thinking about all these twining and open shapes. I knew you would enjoy these colors!

The color of Joy

Somehow today seems like the perfect day to remember a little chapel  two miles from my house. This chapel can now be rented out for weddings and special events but during the Presidential term of Dwight D. Eisenhower it was often used as the place they would go for a bit of spiritual solace.

 The week before Thanksgiving I heard the Eisenhower Chapel was going to be open to the public as part of Opera Colorado's "Fete de NOEL". This is a small building which has been in existence since 1941 and listed on the National Historic Registry for the past 20 years. I have seen and drawn its exterior for many years and was very much  interested in seeing its interior. I was also looking for some color experiences to put me in the mood for the upcoming holidays.

This unpretentious small building has housed a variety of emotions.  I thought about that as I put together this Post as our family is experiencing a lot of happiness as we move into a season of traditional colors. Our families color this season will be the color of JOY as our youngest daughter has become engaged. You can read her version and feel her excitement at http://www.textontextiles.blogspot.com/.

Blanc ,Neige, Froid, ie. Freezing!

Winter Solitude

in a world of one color

the sound of wind.

Matsuo Basho

Our color has been white and cold, here on the high plains. Today there was a break and we will begin to climb toward warmer degrees.  We have hunkered in and walked over wonderful tracks of a fox running by our living room window (and please know we live in a large city).  The presence of the fox keeps us honest.

Some white views within our warm house.