Tuesday, December 13, 2022

December Wrap Up

How are there only 18 more days left in 2022? I read an article about how your perception of time really does speed up as you age. This is mostly to do with days being predictable and similar, so you don't notice time passing; the key is to have more novel experiences that slow you down and make you notice new things. That can be hard to do (work amirite?) but I did have two out-of-the-norm events in November.

I took the girls to the Maryland Alpaca Festival. There were surprisingly few actual alpacas, and many yarn/alpaca fur item vendors. If I had been alone, I could have spent hours browsing the booths. But children don't care about yarn and were more interested in the animals and trying to convince me to buy them toys. Alpacas make the best sound, annoyed, and you'd imagine they would roll their eyes too if they could. Both kids agree they would like an alpaca to live in our backyard.


I also took a day off of work to go to Glenstone, a local art museum, with some friends. To be honest, the artwork here is not that accessible. It's like, 3 tables in an empty room. Or a tractor tire. The building is gorgeous though, and the grounds are beautiful if you go on a day nicer than when we were there in the pouring rain. It's very quiet and they don't allow kids under 12, so it's a peaceful experience. It is in a random suburban location and is privately run, and the tickets are free - but you have to stalk the website at the exact moment they are released for the next month. They also don't have labels about the art, you have to TALK to the guides to get information. I feel like I'm not really selling it, but it's actually a great place to visit if you're in the DC area.


Around the yard I completed my last two big farming chores for the season: digging the dahlias and planting tulips. This was my first year attempting to save tubers, so we'll see how it goes. I don't think I'm very skilled at dividing them yet, so I may have lost some. I'm also storing some in the clump, which should make it easier to see the eyes (where the plant grows from) in the spring. 


I planted almost double the amount of tulips I did last year - nearly 800! It only took a few hours since I plant them close together in a trench. In the spring I pull up the whole plant, bulb and all, which helps them last longer in storage. Flowers from second year bulbs can be smaller or non-existent, so it's not really worth giving space to plants that may produce nothing. 


I also expanded my garden! I added 2 more rows. The picture is illusion. It doesn't look that big, right? But when you're standing it, you're likely to question your ability to manage this many plants. I was so happy to get this done in the fall so that my spring will be less stressful. It's always muddy, rainy, and miserable in March and this year I will NOT be moving a dump-truck full of dirt shovelful by shovelful!


Mary's birthday is the kick-off to the holiday season for me - she turned 9! 


We decorated the house on the day after Thanksgiving. I'm not a big Christmas person (as you probably have figured out by now), but it's always a good activity to do with the kids during the long weekend. Cora still has no concept of time or how things work, so she's been full of statement like, "Christmas is tomorrow!" and "It's going to snow on December first!"


Above: Actual card photo. Below: The photo I wanted to use.



So I finished some socks. They may be the ugliest thing I have ever knit. I took some leftover yarn and wound it randomly into a ball, joining as I went. The idea was to have color surprises with a scrappy result - well, the color runs were too long, and the yarns clashed. The experiment failed, but my socks aren't visible when I wear them anyway, so they'll go into the rotation. It seems that I have to continually teach myself the lesson that taking the easy way out never pays off.



I only have 9 more pages left in this art journal! Maybe I can finish it before the end of the year. I am always trying to reduce the number of projects I have ongoing (and I have many sketchbooks and journals in progress) because having an unfinished project weighs on my mind. I hope to complete a few sketchbooks in the next year so that I only have one art journal going at a time.

I read several graphic novels in the past month which makes my 9-book total look a little crazy! I don't think I can review this many books in one post, so here are the highlights:

When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed: True story of two boys living in a refugee camp in Kenya. Wonderful art and a heartbreaking story but ultimately uplifting book. This is a middle-grade graphic novel so it's a quick read.

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan: Julia Whelan is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, and also an author. This book is romance/women's lit and is quite funny. The story is predictable but my favorite part was the behind-the-scenes mentions of how audiobooks are made. Of course I listened to this on audio, read by the author!

All of This by Rebecca Wolf: Recommendation from Nicole! The author's husband is diagnosed with terminal cancer shortly after they decide to separate. I don't think I've ever read such insightful writing about how you can both love and revile someone for how they've treated you. (To be fair, the author also was unfaithful in her marriage). 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver: I still haven't been able to make a decision about how I feel about this book. In general, it was a good story. It's supposed to be a modern retelling of David Copperfield (which I haven't read), and is narrated by Demon, who is born to a teen mother into poverty. And then, more bad things happen. All of the bad things, constantly! It's wonderfully written and has a lot of action, so I think in the end I do recommend it. It's just not amazing, you know?

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz: This is the fourth book in the Hawthorne/Horowitz series, and I continue to be amused. Horowitz himself is a character in the books, and in this one he is accused of murdering a critic who wrote a bad review of a play he'd written. There is a Sherlock Holmes vibe to how these books are structured, with clues left in plain sight and a detective who manages to put them all together. 

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner: Recommendation from Alicia! I was expecting a standard police procedural, but this book turned out to be quite character based. I loved the main investigator, Manon, and her descriptions of online dating. If you're someone who likes family drama and wants to read about how a crime can affect those involved, this is the book for you. There is not a ton of actual investigating though and in the end the crime sort of solved itself. There are two more books in this series but sadly the author died earlier this year from brain cancer.

Everything, Beautiful by Ella Frances Sanders was a serendipitous find on the library new book shelf. It's full of gorgeous illustrations and hand lettering on the subject of finding beauty in the everyday. This is one of my favorite topics so this will likely be a re-read for me in the future.


This will be my last post of the year, so very best wishes to you all! Thank you for reading and keeping blogs alive. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to document their every day lives and form connections across the world.

22 comments:

  1. Your Christmas tree is stunning. And what a wonderful feeling to have so much of the garden prepped for next year. That relief will carry you through the long winter months. I hate dreading a future event, so knowing that is all handled is a great "win"!

    I think the socks look awesome. A few years ago a friend gifted me a pair of socks that were PURPOSELY mismatched. I thought it was the epitome of whimsy.

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    1. Thank you! Our tree is a mismash of ornaments throughout the years, and even some from my childhood. Looking at it now, it does seem like it sort of goes together somehow, though!

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  2. Your tree is so beautiful! And I am in admiration of your garden. Squirrels are a huge problem here and one fall I planted 150 bulbs. Those bastards dug up and ate every last one of them. I was devastated!

    Alpacas are just the cutest.

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    1. Those squirrels!!!! Ahh! I would be so mad. Our main problem here is deer, but luckily I have a fenced backyard and they haven't destroyed anything yet. The front garden routinely gets eaten, though.

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  3. I agree -- the socks look great! As does the garden, and the bulbs -- I don't think I've ever quite mastered the art of planting bulbs, but there's always next year :)

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    1. Go for it! From the pictures I've seen your yard looks protected, so you definitely could do tulips and daffodils. Next year for sure!

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  4. I still need to plant my Spring bulbs, I have most likely left it too late now as I always do. The ground is completely frozen here now so there is no possibility of doing it anytime soon.

    I too love your socks, I am thinking that I might have to do the same with all the random balls of sock yarn I have left.

    I love the idea of an art journal, I have one that I sporadically paint in but I am not good at remembering that I have it! Perhaps I need to have it in a more prominent place or make notes in my diary to remind myself to paint something in it more often.

    I am finding my way in the wonderful world of graphic novels as they really work for my dyslexic daughter. I love that last book you mention although I can see that the typeface might challenge her, it is all a minefield!

    Have a lovely Christmas x

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  5. Ha ha, I love the socks! I think they're awesome :) And that's so fun to see your expansion! When people hear "flower farm," I'm sure they rarely imagine set-ups like yours and mine, but you really can grow an insane amount in such a small area, so you know that at least one other person fully appreciates how big your expansion really does look :)

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    1. One day your comment form will finally recognize my Google profile :-/ This is Torrie from To Love and To Learn!

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    2. I know, I love reading your blog for this reason as well! That one garden produces thousands of stems throughout the season. And I cut every one of them :) I am hoping this next year is slightly less crazy because I now have infrastructure and won't need to build anything more. That's the most exhausting part, really!

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  6. I just dug up my dahlias for the first time, as they were beautiful and bloomed all summer. I'm not sure that I've stored them well, and I didn't divide them, but since it was not a big hassle to dig them up, I guess it is not a big loss if I did it wrong.

    I enjoyed reading your book reviews. I thought the Horowitz book sounded like Magpie Murders, and then saw that it is the same author. Might check some of them out! Whenever I get my TBR list down. :)

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    1. I don't have the ideal storing conditions, so I'm keeping the clumps in wood chips in my basement, which is in the 60s during the winter. Hopefully they don't think it's spring! So far they seem to be doing well so my fingers are crossed. Magpie Murders was a fun book too - and the next one in that series has an entire book within a book!

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  7. I dug up my Dahlias for the first time last year and amazingly they survived and when I replanted them they actually flowered again. A small success but I was very happy.
    Great socks and your toes won't care about the random colours, they will just be toasty and cosy. Seasonal greetings and see you in the New Year x
    (Beverley from Meandmysmallcorner)

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    1. That's great, I hope mine succeed as well as yours did!

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  8. You have been busy in so many ways! I love your garden updates - I am going to channel you this spring and am planning to be a much more careful gardener. Have you read Fresh Water for Flowers yet? (I'm sorry -- I can't remember if you have or not) It is SO good and I think you'll love all of the little details included. And I love your Scrappy socks -- what a wonderful way to use up those little leftovers. So much fun. And Andrea Mowry's new Bear Paw socks might be another option for your leftovers and much faster... you can hold two fingering weights together and the socks just fly off your needles that way.

    I look forward to connecting with you after the new year! Merry Christmas :)

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    1. Selling flowers has forced me to be way more organized with planning and spreadsheets, and the payoff has been HUGE. I know exactly when I planted everything last year and when it bloomed. Just keeping a notebook will be helpful for you I'm sure. In the end plants want to grow and aren't nearly as fragile as they seem. I haven't read Fresh Water for Flowers, but I did add it to my TBR when I read your review, it sounds just like my kind of book. I'm hoping to get to it in the new year - when I finish Winter Solistice!

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  9. Happy Holidays! I look forward to continuing our "blog buddy" friendship in the new year!

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  10. An alpaca farm! That sounds so fun! And your garden is gorgeous. Very impressive. I had no idea that tulips should be pulled each year - all I know about tulips is that I wish every spring that I had some and then every fall decide it is too much work to anything about it. By the way, I love the socks! They look fun and quirky to me. Maybe they will grow on you.

    Your tree and happy kids are all so beautiful. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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    1. If you plant tulips in your garden, you can certainly leave them in the ground and see what happens in year 2. But since I sell the flowers, I need to free up that space for more plants. Merry Christmas to you too!

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  11. Hope you all have a great time this Christmas x
    (Beverley from Meandmysmallcorner)

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  12. Oh wow, I love all your hobbies... the planting , the garden, the knitting and art... you seem to have a nice balance of "all the things", so surely your time doesn't go as fast as everybody else's, right? ;)

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