Wow; it has been a long time since I posted. This blog unfortunately did not make the priority list but I am here today updating Life (as I know it) in the Northeast Kingdom.
We are having a blizzard which does not photograph well, so I am including a picture taken yesterday of the garden, now dormant and blanketed with snow. The temp has been falling steadily and now is at 6 degrees. The plow rumbled by at irregular intervals all night. An illegal snowmobiler droned by at 4 am and I finally got up, unable to sleep.
Today is garbage day and the evidence of the season's celebrations is gathered and placed in a neat black bag by the Irish boy who does make it out of the driveway through hip-deep drifts, blown north. There is an advisory against driving if at all possible; parts of the highway are closed. He has to go north in a few hours; I wonder if it could wait until tomorrow.
With the holiday cards came next year's gardening catalogs and we salivate, anticipating another season, remembering with sadness last year's blight. In our 'cold room' we have pumpkins, squashes, and beets. I used the last of the carrots for a fabulous julienned dish to accompany the Christmas meat. We are finally out of the wonderful King Harry potatoes, the only survivors.
It is a muted season with preparations only for the holiday concert at school. I made an enormous wreath which took the better part of an afternoon and hung it up as the centerpiece. It was flanked by two more conventional wreaths. I decorated the piano with three poinsettias that did not survive the blast of -15 degree air when transported home. The 6th grade painted a brick fireplace with a big fire and most grades hung art work on the walls.
The Irish lad cut fragrant boughs of balsam for the wreaths and a tree which could not be placed in the school for fire safety reasons. We put it up in the living room instead and I hung three long strings of lights on it. It is beautiful. Lights are elsewhere in the house as well; in the bedroom on an automatic timer to wake me gently in the morning before the harsh alarm (thank you Cheryl), in the conservatory with the baby grand piano, and in the kitchen. Let's bring light into the darkness!
