Southern Frost

The weather was unusually warm, and then we had several days of vigorous rain.  That passed, and now winter has come to the South.  Not winter as I know it, with ice and snow and freezing fog, but a kinder, gentler sort of winter with its own sort of beauty.

We had frost.

My car windshield was covered in long, elaborate ice "feathers", which were formed when a strong wind blowing water turned cold, then colder. 

Ice formed in the bird bath for the first time this year.

You'll note that the ice formation is different, based upon the wind on the southern side of the house being a bit more gentle that night that the wind on the northern side.

Water droplets formed in the trees...

...and turned to diamonds in the sunlight.

Frost edged the leaves of the helleborus...

...and all the bushes.

The autumn leaves were frozen.

The pond steamed in the early sun.

In this growth zone there is still a lot of green.  The little white buds that had formed on one of the 10-foot bushes outside opened up...

 

...and proved to be white ruffled camillas.

 

They only live for a few days, and then drop their petals to form a romantic little path along the edge of the yard.

The few Mahonia bushes that I hadn't gotten around to cutting down bloomed briefly before falling to my hedge clippers.

Of course, I've done my best to 'bring the outside in'.  I have cut many fir and pine branches to put in vases around the house.

Holly is *everywhere*.

I bought several hyacinth bulbs from the store and they're sprouting nicely in narrow-necked glass vases.

I've been bringing in near-armfuls of fallen camilla blooms.  I have them in white dishes and egg cups.

Bosewichte heartily approves.

I need all this cheer around me, because making friends in a new place when you work from home hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be.  I tried to volunteer.  I tried to get more information about the local League of Women Voters.  I contacted multiple people in my new town via Ravelry to see if anyone was interested in starting a knitting club, and the same method on Gardenweb to see if anyone wanted to form a gardening club.  I didn't get any response from any of my efforts.  I tried to find other community groups/clubs via meetup.com and through the local library with no luck.  We're looking for a church, and I joined the gym and am taking an upcoming Master Gardeners course, but I'm still alone most of the time.  It's easy to become discouraged, and being out in the yard and enjoying the natural beauty of the area helps.

So does spending more time on my hobbies, like knitting.  I knitted this pillow recently and it was really enjoyable.  The pattern is free on Ravelry.com and I believe it's called Handspun Cushion.

I've also been doing a little baking.  Here's a fun tip:  instead of chocolate chips in your next dessert recipe, try making Nutella chips.

I just filled a piping bag with Nutella and piped out rough chocolate blobs.  Be sure to freeze them overnight...they melt really easily.  Then just mix into your batter like you would chocolate chips.  Yum!

Have a great week!

Early Arrivals

It's raining, and the cats are passing the time by watching sodden squirrels and chipmunks scurry around in the leaves, just out of their reach.

Rain is not out of character for January, but 65 degrees F sure is.  I've been astounded at the warm temperatures in South Carolina.  We've had a few light frosts and chilly nights, but no daytime temperature so far has been below 45 degrees F.  And, of course, the local flora is reacting to it.

This bush is changing by the day, ready to put forth some sort of bloom sometime soon.

This tall bush - name unknown - is getting ready to bloom white.

The tangled vine that covers our side arch and fence - honeysuckle?  Jasmine? - is budding out.

This wasn't here last week...

The berries on this bush are turning...

This small tree - dogwood? Cherry? - is starting to bud out, too.

I noticed some tightly-furled buds on some bushy growth by our front door.

Several days later, the buds opened up.

Flowers!  In January!  They're Helleborus, the Lenten Rose. 

The neighbor's shrubs are all blooming...

...and so are ours.

Our camilla (?) bush is starting to bloom nicely.  Well, actually, it's been blooming the whole time we've been here. 

What's really delightful is that the buds eventually fall to the ground, still as good as new.

I pick them up and float them in shallow dishes of water.

They make a beautiful addition to my desk.

While out and about, I've seen daffodils and other bulbs coming up.  I don't know if this is normal for South Carolina, but it seems awfully early.  Still, I'm going to enjoy it!

I haven't posted much about knitting or baking because I've been so busy.  Not having a working oven for 6 weeks caused a delay as well.  But now, at least, I can post a few recent knitting projects.

I knitted this sweater for my sister-in-law's Christmas.

The arms seemed too long, but she assures me that they're perfect.  It's got a stranded-knitting yoke...

And, if you'll notice, the motif is small birds.  She loves birds, so I thought it would be a good fit...no pun intended!

I also knitted a cup cozy for a friend.  I've always been suspicious of the utility of these types of things, but I read up on it and apparently they really do keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold.  I had a small bit of beautiful yarn, just enough to knit one.  The bottom fits smoothly over the bottom of a standard-size coffee cup...

...and an i-cord strap fits snugly over an attached button on the side.

I hope to have time to knit - and bake - more in the coming weeks!

Have a great week!

P.S.  The Marine Biology Department at the University of Oregon was able to identify last week's mystery creature as a salp.  Here's a link to read more about it!

a day at the beach

Happy New Year!

Todd and I are back from our yearly trip to Portland, Oregon.  I'm normally incredibly organized when I travel, with lists of items for every contingency.  I bring medicine in case we get sick, Band-Aids and Neosporin in case we have cuts, extra books and notebooks/pens in case we have unexpected down time, checkbooks in case we lose our debit cards and need money, four or five emery boards in case our nails magically grow several inches in two week's time and need to be tamed...you get the idea.  But this trip, I forgot something crucial. 

We were at Multnomah Falls, and I was having a double rainbow moment.  Not like this double rainbow moment, but a genuine one, nonetheless.  A double rainbow was lighting up the sky above the falls parking lot!  I clutched my side, and realized that I had forgotten my camera.  Argh!  Thankfully Todd had his iPhone, so I was able to get a serious of images, but they aren't as clear (whimper) as the images that my camera would deliver.

Still...

One rainy day, we decided to take a trip to the beach.  It's about an hour and a half from Portland, and I try to make the drive whenever I'm in town, even if it's in the winter.

I love the beach.

I love going to the little coastal towns - some touristy, some heartbreakingly dilapidated, some artsy and dignified.  They all contain charmingly-shingled wooden houses.

The beaches are all different, too.  Some are sand, but most are at least partially rock.

You can usually find amazing combinations of sea weed and kelp.

There's always beautiful moss - on rocks and growing on/hanging from the trees.

You can find beautiful pieces of driftwood, or even 'regular' wood whose inner beauty has been exposed by the push of the waves:

You can usually find sand dollars and pretty rocks, and sometimes, a mysterious sea creature that no one can seem to identify:

Learning his identity is going to be one of my goals this week!  We saw many of these along the coast, and other visitors were looking at them curiously.  One hypothesis is that they're from Japan, part of the flotsam coming over in the wake of the tsunami.

The tsunami hit Japan a little over a year ago, and evidence of it is still washing up on Oregon shores.

Pretty meandering paths are common...

And, of course, on rainy days you get a lovely mist over the water.

My very favorite beach, which I may have mentioned before, is Hug Point.  It's a dangerous beach, with sneaker waves, rip tides, and uneven ground.

But it has beautiful trees running along the coast:

 And a beautiful sea cave:

And an angry, frothy surf that I love to watch.  Even when it appears calm, the water sneaks up on you. 

Although there are no overt signs of danger, the water comes closer...

...and closer.

That was no sneaker wave, but a demonstration of how dangerous the surf can be here.  I was nearly washed off my feet several years ago by a surge of water that came out of nowhere and did not appear as the high waves that would normally indicate danger.  That's the sneaky thing about sneaker waves...they just look like a typical low roll of water that washes up on the beach, but they come quickly, and with a lot more power - and water - behind them that you would expect.  I heard local news stories of people being injured by sneaker waves when I lived in Oregon.  Here is a video that shows just how dangerous they can be.

We left Hug Point and traveled further down the coast.  Sea gulls were everywhere:

In some towns, the piles of clam shells were several feet high!

 We saw a pretty sunset...

...and went home for a clam feast.

 A perfect end to a day at the beach!