Embracing Barbiecore

There is an inevitable moment in the Winter season when I have had enough of the cold and snow.  When it happens, I turn to pink sweaters to see me through to the day in March when I will pack up my Winter tights and wool sweaters and declare Sassafras Spring.  That moment of Winter weariness came earlier than usual this year - likely because the cold aggravates my already unhappy hip - and last week I began to actively fantasize about Spring.  Usually I get through the last week of February and start of March by wearing cozy pink sweaters.  This year, the pink sweaters will start before Valentine’s Day.  For starters, I’ll be off work for my surgery.  Without the need to appear sensible at school, I can sit around home wearing whatever I damn well please.  And what I please is looking to be a whole lot of pink. 

Style Journal: Sassafras Shelf

My first house, in Nebraska, had a beautiful fireplace with a mission-style oak mantle.  I loved the mantle and enjoyed decorating it.  The items on it reflected all sorts of seasonal decor: flowers in the Summer, pumpkins in the Fall, Christmas stockings and greenery, my collection of hand-carved bunnies in the Spring.  My first house in New Jersey did not have a fireplace or a mantle and an antique table in the living room served as an improvised mantle of sorts.  Sassafras House, which has been home since 2006, has beautiful chestnut wood work and oak floors but there is not a fireplace or mantle.  The antique table wouldn’t fit in the living room and over the years I have improvised a place for seasonal decor.  Sometimes I used the wood radiator cover in the living room front window.  For a few years, I had a mantle shelf.  But I have been on the hunt for a better set up.  For years, the shelf below the TV held the cable box and DVR.  When I gave those up for Roku streaming, it freed up the shelf.  And just like that I had my mantle equivalent.  This month, it has some of the wooden houses in my collection and light from a digital candle that flickers in a hobnail glass jar.  As the seasons change, I enjoy planning a new display for the shelf, which has become a little corner of happy in my world.

Style Journal: Soft Nightgowns

As the weather begins to cool, my need for cozy nightwear grows.  In keeping with my preference to never wear pants, I am not the pajama type.  But I love a nightgown.  When I was a little girl, my grandma would give me a Lanz flannel nightgown for Christmas.  They had ruffles and pretty prints and I loved them.  Though I still have a soft spot for flannel, the idea of sleeping in flannel makes me sweat.  These days, I love Lands End long-sleeved cotton nightgowns.  They are soft and cozy, and each year has at least a few prints that I like.  I especially like small prints and my current favorite has all the trappings of a cozy morning.  

The nightgowns wash like a dream.  Just the thought of putting mine on at the end of a busy day makes me happy.  Here’s to feeling cozy.

Among the Trees: The Bare Branch Season

There comes a point in November - we aren’t quite there yet, but I can sense it in the air - when suddenly, all the leaves are gone.  I’ll notice it first on my drive home from school.  Then I’ll see it at twilight from the living room.  It’s a hard transition for me.  Though I know that the stark Winter season of rest is the only way for the re-birth of Spring, I’m never quite ready to say goodbye to the fully-leafed trees.  This year, Winter is harder to embrace because of my current mobility limits, which are made harder by the cold.  Usually, the twinkling lights of December will help me to embrace Winter.  I’m hopeful that will be the case this year as well.  

November 1: All Inside Now

We’ve had a mostly warm Fall and plenty of time on the back deck and front porch.  Last weekend, Saturday was sunny and warm but Sunday was rainy and cool, with cold temperatures forecast for the week.  It was time for my houseplants to come inside for the Winter.  

That’s no small task and given my current physical challenges, I recruited JT to help with the job.  I gave some plants a haircut and he brought the plants inside.  The big shefflura and two pothos got a spot in my study.  Most got a perch near the south-facing living room window.  

Two more are making their home in the dining room alongside some of the plants that live indoors in all seasons.  These plants are my pride and joy.  They ensure that my house feels like a home and they make me smile all the time, but especially in the darkest portions of Winter, when they brighten the surroundings and remind me that warmer days will be here soon.

Style Journal: In Praise of Cardigan Sweaters

I love a cardigan sweater.  There is something about them that meets all my style requirements: Casual, dressy, and everything in-between, the cardigan sweater has your back.  Literally.  

Worn buttoned up with just the top button undone and a necklace peeking through: classic and dressy enough for most occasions.  Worn over a matching shell:  a twin set will never be wrong.  Tossed over a t-shirt with a casual denim skirt: cute and casual to meet the day’s requirements.  When you grow up in California, the idea of sweaters feels like a choice that will see you through one short season: Winter. But in my East Coast world, a cardigan is a four-season affair.  I have several, in colors and fabric weights to meet whatever demands I make of them.  

I thought of this when I was in Vermont for a few days off earlier this week.  At the last minute, I threw my light blue three-quarter sleeve cotton cardigan in my bag.  It was handy in the evenings on the back deck of the cabin we stayed; cozy over my nightgown in the morning, and welcome during our rainy day adventures in town.  This sweater is the utility infielder of my Spring and Summer closet.  The color goes with anything - plain and simple without being boring.  I feel just a smidge more put-together when it’s in my bag or draped over my shoulders.  My inner preppy is always best-pleased by its tidy, stylish presence. 

That's happy!

My Daily Floral Greeting

In late November, Fall Me set to work planting tulip bulbs.  Spring Me is reaping the happy reward of those efforts.  The tulips greet me in the cool May mornings. 

They welcome me home in the afternoon. 

They have been making my days quite lovely and when I see the flowers I send a silent thank you to Fall Me, whose advance planning is paying happy floral dividends.  

Dogwood Blooms

In the dark and cold of the early Spring mornings, I make time to step outside and spy the dogwood tree.  At first, the start of leaves and the small, tight buds that will become flowers take time to come into focus.  As the days grow longer and the sunlight grows warmer, the leaves, which start the size of slender nail clippings, begin to grow larger.  The same is true for the buds.  They start as tiny hard nodules on the end of new growth branches and daily they grow just a smidge bigger.  

Come April, it’s clear there will be flowers in the coming weeks and though I’ve known it all along, known it since the tree shed its leaves in the Fall, I am still overjoyed at the coming blossoms.  Spring is here, the dogwood flowers call to me, and in the chill of the early morning, the chirping birds and I cheer them on.

Among the Trees: Daffodil Season

It seems that I am always impatient for the arrival of Spring.  Though we had an incredibly mild Winter, this year was no exception.  I have been on the lookout for signs of Spring since I returned from California in February.  That means frequent visits to Colonial Park, where I like to take my walks and look for all the new blooms.  In the past week, the pace of Spring blooms has picked up.  There are daffodils everywhere.  Some are just starting to open their flowers. 

Others have begun to bloom.  

Within the week, more fields of daffodils will emerge everywhere I look.  I'm excited for the blooms.

Every year, I find early Spring to be a balm and a joy.  The sunlight, the warmth, the verdant new life...all of it is lovely.  This year, watching the new leaves and flowers has been bittersweet, as I think of my Dad and the garden chatter we always shared.  It’s a bit of a one-sided conversation these days, though I can hear his voice and I know he’ll be there as I plant my seeds and await the new life.  Spring, I hear you calling and I am here for all of it.

Early Spring

As March prepares to exit, I am yearning for sunshine and warmth in a way that is almost physical.  It’s not just a desire to step outside without a coat, mittens, hat, and scarf to ward off the cold.  It’s a deep need to be outside and able to lift my face to the sun and feel its warmth on my skin.  This is a common feeling for March in central New Jersey and I know that as each day brings a smidge more sunlight, a rescue is on the way.  

The rescue won’t be today, which is cold and rainy, a day that would be dreary if it weren’t for the signs of Spring I can find every where I look.  The lawns in my neighborhood are starting to turn the verdant green of Spring.  Around town, there are forsythia in bloom and dogwood trees aren't far behind.  There are purple crocuses in the shade of my front yard flowerbed and brave bunches of daffodils in the sunniest part of the back yard.  All of them cheer me up, as if they know I need a reminder that warmer days are at hand.  Hold on, they tell me.  The light is on its way.

Style Journal: Sassafras Spring

I always welcome Winter when it shows its cards.  I value the reminder to pause and rest, tucked inside away from the cold.  I eagerly take up the invitation to haul out my Winter goods.  I have enough Winter clothing to keep me cozy and warm on the coldest of days, even outdoor recess with temps below 35.  Inside, I have warm bedding, an abundance of throw blankets, and a wealth of twinkling lights to greet the season of darkness and cold.  

But no matter how much cozy I can summon and enjoy, the arrival of February has me thinking about Spring.  Sometimes I blame the cold and the darkness for my recurring daydreams of warmth; sometimes I blame the Spring garden catalogs that fill my mailbox come mid-January.  Sometimes it’s just a longing for the ease of stepping outdoors without the advance-planning of shoes, coats, mittens, hats, scarves and the knowledge that despite the layers, the cold will still take my breath away. 

Come the last days of February, I scan the 10-day weather forecast with a keen eye, looking for two or three days in a row above 45 degrees to warrant an announcement that Spring has arrived.  This will be an announcement that only I will make and only I will embrace.  I call it Sassafras Spring and, like Spring itself, it will be both arbitrary and capricious.*Dark Winter coats and sweaters and warm Winter tights are banished and packed away, replaced by pink and coral sweaters, canvas sneakers, and a sky blue coat…all warm enough to get me through the cold of early Spring but bright enough for me to pretend that Winter is over.  I’ll haul out an abundance of Spring scarves, in colors bright enough to signal the season of growth but still warm enough to keep me from shivering.

This year, Sassafras Spring was declared on March 1, far too early to be sensible, of course.  But just in time to cheer me up.  

Willing Spring Into Existence

Despite the mild Winter, I was ready for warmth when my California family needed me earlier this month.  It’s been years since I visited my hometown in February and it was lovely, with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s most days.  The skies were clear enough to see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains to the east of town and they were unbelievably splendid. 

I’ve been back in New Jersey a week now and, as expected, it was a return to Winter temperatures.  There is snow in the forecast for Tuesday, the last day of February. But March is in sight and the taste of warmth earlier this month has me ready to declare Sassafras Spring sooner rather than later.  I can’t will the warm weather to begin, but I can pull on a pink sweater and power through the last days of Winter and I will do just that.  My pride will keep me warm.

Sunlight, Warmth, and Daffodils

I’m in California right now, my second visit in so many months.  I came to see my family and to stay with my mom for a bit as she sorts out life without my dad.  I’ve missed the second patch of extreme cold in New Jersey by being in California in February and it must be said that I’d truly forgotten how beautiful my home town is at this time of year.  It’s been warm - mostly in the 60s - and there has been sunshine and skies clear enough to enable me to see the Sierra Nevada mountains nearly every day.  The daylight is lasting a bit longer with each sunrise and that’s been very nice as well.  

Spring is my favorite season, always.  The slow arrival of blooms and greenery feels like a yearly unearned miracle unfolding before my eyes; each day bringing us something new to admire.  Even a mild Winter, like the one we’ve mostly experienced in New Jersey this year, is cold.  As it drags on, I long for the easy days of warmer weather and my joy in the arrival of Spring is always unmeasured and unbound.

Being in California now is, of course, a respite from our cold.  That I’m here helping my mother to transition to life without her husband of 58 years is a reminder that our time on earth passes quickly.  But there is sunshine and daffodils have begun to bloom, two things my dad would have enjoyed, and I take comfort in that.

Thoughts of Spring

Toward the end of January, a colleague mentioned that we were through the first month of Winter and I was caught up short and not a little appalled to consider that Spring was officially still two months away.   I take  a meteorological approach to the seasons and as soon as December arrives, I consider it Winter.  Since this first month of Winter is accompanied by twinkly lights and holiday celebrations, it’s lovely.

My approach has the convenient effect of making the long January, with its dark, grey skies and cold days, the second month of my Winter.  February is the third month of Winter and with only 28 days, that feels like a win.  Soon enough, March has arrived and I can declare Spring, so I do just that.  

The calendar and Mother Nature don’t always see it my way, of course, but that doesn’t get me down.  I want Spring and that is that.  I shall have it come the 1st of March, no matter the temperature outside.

Notes on January

 During the “flatten the curve” portion of the pandemic, when school was fully remote, we scrambled to find activities for the students to do together on line that weren’t video games.  One of those activities was a digital word game art project called Word Pack.  It was fun and I still play with it, using the app to celebrate the month or a season.  For me, it’s a way to mark the tiny pleasures of each month. As of Thursday, in my corner of the world, January is gaining light at both sunrise and sunset.  That seems reason enough to celebrate and share my January graphic, which was mostly about being cozy at home.

In the Winter Woods

I can never get enough of being outside and in all seasons, I like to go for a walk in the gardens of Colonial Park.  The gardens stretch along the D&R Canal, with open fields and a trail that offers plenty to see.  There are lots of other places I like to go for a walk, but this place is my favorite and offers enough variety that I never seem to tire of it.

My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall, because everything is changing and because the weather is often mild enough for me to be outside for hours, walking and then reading and resting on one of the many benches in the gardens and lawns.  Winter is trickier because sitting outside is less comfortable but I am cold-hearty enough for a good long walk.  

This past weekend, I took my walks in the mid-afternoon, when the sun was high. 

 

In the Summer, the trail is mostly shaded and offers a cool respite from the heat.  But the weekend was cold and the sun was lovely on the trail, shining through the limbs of trees now bare of leaves.  

Though it’s just mid-January and there is plenty of Winter left on the calendar, I’m already turning my imagination toward the Spring, with its fresh blooms and hopeful promise. It’s nice to look forward.

Among the Trees: Winter Sunsets

Lately, I’ve been reading about stargazing and I came across an article that explained why Winter sunsets are so beautiful.  It has to do with the arc of the sunset as compared to the position of North America relative to the sun in Winter months.  There was plenty more science in the explanation but the real take-away for me was a reminder to check out the sky at twilight.  We’ve had some lovely sunsets of late and pictures hardly do it justice, though this one will have to do. 

As I wait for the sunlight in our days to truly lengthen, the daily sunset is my welcome companion for the Winter.  It isn’t always be lovely to behold but that’s okay, because the daily sunset is a reminder to stop and look for the beauty around me.  That’s happy at any time of year.

Brrrr

We are smack dab in the middle of Winter right now and last week’s storm made this clear.  The snow was pretty and the light at sunset was splendid.

This Winter has seemed darker than usual and so I turn to familiar comforts.  Bright colors and stripes are lined up in my closet.  My cozy red flower hat helps to keep my eyes on the prize.  

Living in floral hope around here.

Fall in Sight

The backyard dogwood tree is rather a harbinger of things to come.  It’s my first sight of Spring in April and come September, its leaves begin to turn ever-so-slightly.  I enjoy a daily check of the changes at hand.  This was the tree three weeks ago.   

Last week, a few more leaves had begin to turn.  

Yesterday, color was coming to all of the leaves on the side of the tree that faces West.  

This tree barely reached the roofline of the first floor when I moved here in 2005.  These days, it’s rather larger than that, though still very much in the shadow of Old Man Tree, and always a treat when I spy its branches.

Old Man Tree October 1

September of any school year is typically exhausting but September in pandemic school was well beyond that.  In the first full week, we quarantined more than 20 kids;  the next week brought another dozen at home.  Students have been a bit off the rails on the adolescent behavior front.  It’s been a challenging month.   Each day, I’d come home and take some time to admire Old Man Tree, the sentinel of time in my back yard and a reminder of the many things that endure even as life seems upside down.       

For all the difficulties of September, the teaching and learning - with every kid in class and none on Zoom - has been absolutely splendid.  I love that part of school again and it’s a most-welcome development.    As we settle into October’s shortening day, learning feels almost normal.  Mother Nature has been kind to us when it comes to outside recess and the changing leaves are here.

Old Man Tree is getting ready for the next season.  Under his careful watch, I’ll be ready as well.