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![Pomegranates © Sue Schlabach]()
Nöel
Holiday Greetings from our hilltop valley. It is unseasonably warm, and when we walked this morning it felt like spring garden planting weather, not the season of candlelight, bayberry scent and eggnog by the fire. The woodland is so lush and green with moss and ferns that we imagined this is how Christmas is in the Pacific Northwest.…
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![Candlelight © Sue Schlabach]()
Candlelit Tree, Dusting of Snow
Merry Christmas to you all from Pennsylvania. This may be the first candlelit tree I’ve seen in person. We glimpsed it last night after the Moravian service in Lititz, Pennsylvania. This has been a holiday filled with singing. Tonight I am hoarse from an impromptu evening of carols and songs around the family table.…
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![Woodland Findings © Sue Schlabach]()
Hello Winter. Thankful.
Almost Thanksgiving and the grass is nearly obscured by snow. That’s okay with me after the mild, lingering autumn we’ve had. Our garden wall project that ate up our summer (and was partially the reason I rarely wrote), is nearly complete, and that is one of a million things I am thankful for this season.…
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![Birdcage © Sue Schlabach]()
A Spring Rabbit, Masako Kubo
A tiny touch of spring weather is in the air for Easter weekend here (this means sunny and a high of 48 F, with possible high 50s for tomorrow). The snow is receding. The farmyard is muddy. The sugarhouses will be boiling today. I came across this rabbit artwork by Masako Kubo on the Covet…
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![Mango and Azalea © Sue Schlabach]()
A Fresh Path in the Snow
Today I took down the Christmas tree. The momentary sadness was instantly replaced with the euphoria that comes with moving the furniture around. I trimmed the rosemary plant of dry ends and woody twigs, filling the house with its piny scent, to replace the traces of balsam that went out the door moments before.…
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![natural holiday photo Carina Olander]()
Natural Holiday, Sweden
Someday I’d like to visit Sweden. Either in the darkest winter, or in the endless sunshine of summer. For now, I live vicariously through books and blogs. This article in Lantliv magazine sums up the airy, bright beauty of the northern winter light. I’m smitten by the simple paper and evergreen decorations in this house…
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![© Rachel Talibart from SueSchlabach.com]()
Winter Postbox
A red English postbox is the essence of beautiful utilitarian design in my book. And this snow dusted postbox seems to be the essence of holiday anticipation. Rachael Talibart, based in the south of England, is the photographer, and shares about her travels and life through photography at her blog Focused Moments. She is a…
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![winterberry © Sue Schlabach]()
Advent, Bells, Snow
Fresh snow fell yesterday morning. A nice way to begin December. I pinned the first of Peggy’s jingle bells to the hem of my coat, opened the first of my 24 advent packages—a gorgeous garland of rustic wooden stars—sent from my dear friend in France, and headed to Strafford, Vermont. Who is Peggy? Why did…
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Grateful on the Prairies
Happy Thanksgiving from the American prairie. Here we are in Kansas. An eclectic feast is simmering in the kitchen- tamales side-by-side with turkey gravy. Two pumpkin pies bake, scenting the air with allspice and cinnamon. We’ve come here from Vermont, Pennsylvania and Brooklyn, to gather and cook, laugh, catch up and relax at the home…
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![Dachshund © Sue Schlabach]()
Dachshunds on Parade
The town of Stafford, Vermont, holds one of our favorite parades of the year the weekend closest to the Fourth of July. Last Saturday rain threatened, but held off. And still a crowd formed around the green in Strafford’s upper village to see kilted men and women play kazoos, gleaming tractors, welsh ponies ornamented with…
