Our Christmas Tree and Ornament Stories

  • Post published:12/25/2019
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I cannot imagine Christmas without a Christmas Tree to decorate and enjoy. So many ornaments carry memories. During our 2 years in Beijing, China as 'Foreign Experts' we learned about some  of the historic stories and tales. Monkey King is the main character in the book Journey to the West. This is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. We met…

Garden Books I Treasure

  • Post published:12/20/2019
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I am a reader but garden books never had a big place in my life until our family was preparing to leave New York City for the wilds of Heath. By happenstance I was given Onward and Upward in the Garden (1979) by Katharine S. White with an introduction by her husband E.B. White. I had tended vegetable gardens, but never gave a thought to flower gardens. However, that is where Mrs. White’s heart lay. The very first…

Historic Deerfield Christmas Wreath Workshop – Annual Winter Celebration

  • Post published:12/13/2019
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Last week the Historic Deerfield Annual Christmas Wreath Workshop was held at the Deerfield Community Center. The room was alive with energy, Christmas carols and cookies. The air was filled with the scent of evergreen trees. Piles of holly berries, kumquats, teasels, pine cones were everywhere. For years volunteers of every age have descended on the Community Center to make merry and create beautiful Christmas wreaths. Tinka Lunt told me that twenty years ago Scott Creelman, a member…

My Twelfth Blogaversary – December 6, 2019.

  • Post published:12/06/2019
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I did not note my first Blogaversary in 2008 but we were rather caught up  with an amazing storm. https://www.commonweeder.com/heaths-ice-storm/ In 2009 I celebrated with a giveaway  https://www.commonweeder.com/our-first-winner-is/ In 2010 I visited Buffalo for their Garden Walk which was fabulous and chronicled here.  That tour was the first of others I was to take organized by the Garden Bloggers. However  I was  again too busy to note  my blogaversary  https://www.commonweeder.com/chicken-house-2-mine/ It doesn't look like much, especially in December,…