Here it Comes Again

 We are off to a great start on an old fashioned winter.  We've had two rounds of significant snow already and we're gearing up for another

It had already started this morning when I headed out for my walk.  It isn't too cold but it is windy and the wet snow is being plastered against everything.  It's pretty.  Especially when viewed from indoors.

This time we are expecting 1 to 2.5 feet of lake effect from an Alberta clipper developing into a nor'easter, but this cold is going to dip down and also give much of the mid-west and some of the deep south a good chance of significant snowfall.  

Our forecast also includes 40 mph winds which will blow the snow around and suddenly we are looking at blizzard conditions.  We've had quite a bit of wind earlier this week with trees down and power outages in some parts of the county.  Of course we have to endure our share of downed trees.

This one fell Sunday night.  Thankfully it did not fall across the trail to the back property so it doesn't have to be dealt with immediately.  But naturally it did have to make a nuisance of itself.

The top hit the area where we have been storing some leftover pavers and bricks and some extra wire fencing.  It is only about fifty feet from our bonfire area, but they are fifty very muddy feet so we are hoping for some more cold but clear weather which will give us hard, frozen ground but no snow or wind to complicate things.

There will never be a shortage of campfire wood on this property.

Ready for Christmas

 I have been taking my good sweet time to get ready for the holidays this year.  On Tuesday of this week it was 41F and sunny.  I decided it would be a good day to go out and dig horseradish for my popular home made cocktail sauce.  Several times the New Year has found me out in the snow with a bucket of water (to thaw the ground) and a muddy shovel looking for roots while snowflakes drifted down my collar and into my ears.  

Digging this year was pleasantly dry and I found a couple of perfect roots.  I got my tools cleaned up and wrapped the still muddy roots in a plastic bag and stored them in the hydrator for later.  And it was a good thing I got it done.

Because Wednesday afternoon it did this.

I finally got around to making my Christmas wreaths.  I did this out in the heated garage on a table where I could scatter fir needles everywhere.  The one for the roadside fence is about 15 pounds.  Last year I foraged for my greens but this year when I got into the mood to make wreaths there was two feet of heavy snow on the ground and I couldn't imagine trying to find enough greens under those conditions so I bought some instead.  This has the added benefit of being able to include berries and textures I can't always find on our property.

My husband's father grew up in this house and we still have his runner sled.  I retrieved it from the chicken coop and plonked it down in the still soggy planting bed where it can freeze into place.  This wreath is made on a simple coat hanger base.  Behind the wreath there is one of his vintage wool scarves that buttons instead of tying.  

I always manage to have a touch of Christmas in every room, but it seems like we spend a lot of time together at the dining room table so the tree goes there.  I actually got the Christmas Tree up on Black Friday.  I keep several boxes of Winter/Christmas items in the basement now mixed in with my other seasonal decor so I began exchanging summer items for winter around the first of November.  

This table centerpiece gets changed several time throughout the year.  I made candle rings for each season and I change from Apple Blossoms to Summer Berries to Ivy and Acorns so the Winter Evergreens are ready to go and just needed some color added.  I only had to get two boxes down from the attic:  the tree, and the tree decorations.

Christmas trees are so difficult to photograph.  This tree has always been some variation of gold but this year I needed to replace the cheap gold balls that were losing their color and I started running across ornaments sets in shades of "tonal blush". So I upgraded to a burgundy/pink/gold color scheme which blends with the salvageable gold ornaments as well as the large burgundy ones I had on our all red living room tree in 2016.

The ornaments range from a dark burgundy which looks almost black through creamy cherry, dusty rose to rose gold, pink and plain gold which I think looks very up to date and classy.  Yes, Pink and Dusty Rose...  They look really nice against the drapes that I put up in 2023.

I searched for a new topper but didn't find anything I liked

Next to the tree is my Hoosier cabinet which has lately been featuring my collection of Uranium glass under black lights.  This didn't need much additional decoration so I just added bubble lights and a mistletoe garland.

I added a Santa here

I brought out all of my Christmas themed kitchen collectibles from Snowflake Crackers and Jack Frost Sugar to Yummy Cocoa mix and Nabisco Sugar Cookies.  We're ready for a Holiday baking session.

I always have a vintage Campbell's Soup ad hanging here in the kitchen.

I change it out now and then and recently purchased a Christmas themed one.  I enjoy looking it while I prepare our meals. 

Saturday Evening Post 1929

My horse drawn sleigh theme lasts all winter

I enjoy shopping for a few Christmas themed items to add to my collections each year.  A few years ago it was rounding out my collection of Reed and Barton carousel horses for my ornament tree.  This year I finally chose a beautiful set of saddle mounted sleigh bells.

I made the mini wreath out of a single fir tip

I remember an old family friend had a pair of these displayed on her coffee table each Christmas.  They had belonged to her family back when sleighs were the only available form of winter transportation.  This style of saddle chimes is readily available online.  Many of them come already mounted on a wooden stand, but someone took the time to have these beautifully mounted by a harness maker who included the appropriate harness hardware and an accent layer of patent harness leather.  This display elevates these bells above any I have ever seen before.

There are many types of sleigh bells from body bands and hip mounts to shaft mounted bells.  People have been using bells on their horses for millennia but they became associated with sleighs because of their use as a safety device.  Those of you who live in snow country know how quiet the snowy landscape can be with all usual sounds muffled.  Traveling by horse and sleigh there would be no tell tale hoofbeats and the sleigh glides silently over the snow.  It would be sort of like cruising silently through a parking lot with a hybrid or electric car before they started adding the fake vroom-vroom noise to warn pedestrians.  Bells were required so both pedestrians and drivers could hear sleigh traffic coming in the snow. 

 These saddle chimes would be mounted on the harness saddle and screwed down with the rein terrets.  I have only seen saddle chimes depicted on pairs of horses.  There was probably a protocol for what type of bells were appropriate to your rig depending on whether you had a one horse open sleigh or a pair, or draft horses with bobsleds.  If there was, that tradition has been virtually lost to time.

Centerfold engraving from Harper's Weekly 1888
shows saddle bells with a feather plume fastened on top

Full engraving
Sleighing in Central Park, NY

Sleigh and pair of Standardbreds in front of the Ahern Mansion Jamestown, NY
Showing appropriately sized Body Bells

Shaft Bells and Shoulder Bells

Hubbard, Spencer, Bartlett and Co 1895

Hubbard, Spencer, Bartlett and Co 1895

Have you ever given any thought to how roads were maintained before the age of automobiles and plows?  Both horses and sleighs require a fairly firm surface to travel on and this was achieved by packing the loose snow with a roller.

Oxen 1907
Now that would be slow going!  Oxen are never in a hurry.

The above photo comes from an interesting collection of snow roller photos

Snow Rollers: How Michigan Cleared Roads After a Snow Storm, 1800s-1920s

Growing up I had a couple of sleighs and used my great grandfather's sleigh bells many times.  

My Great Grandfather's Bells
We had them riveted onto a new strap by an Amish harness maker

Good sleighing weather was single digits when the road salt stopped working and you could get a good hard packed road with a layer of fresh snow for hoof traction and no bare spots.  If we had a snow roller we could have packed paths in the open fields because without packing the going is either too deep for the horse or the sleigh breaks through to wet ground which freezes ice to the runners.

My sister and I and Dandy Christmas Day 1985

Dusty and I at the Chautauqua Institution Sleigh Rally 1986

A few years later we purchased a calendar produced by a local artist and found she 
had used the exact same shot and changed the background to one of the quaint Victorian houses
that the Institute is famous for.  During the sleigh rally participants were encouraged to make use of the unsalted roads in the village.

Oliver Christmas 1989 or 1990

At this age I am grateful for my remote car starter and am glad that I don't have to bundle up under a buffalo robe and travel to town by horse and sleigh.  But nothing compares to the memories of gliding across the silent snow with the mellow sound of sleigh bells. Tomorrow is the winter Solstice.  In merry olde England this was referred to as "midwinter" even though it is actually the first day of winter.  Here in Western NY we feel like we have already had our share of winter weather.   It is a good time to snuggle up with a warm drink and watch the snow falling gently outside.  In the weeks to come we will begin thinking forward to spring and starting seeds and looking forward to warmer weather.

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring tingle tingling too...

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!

Dashing Through The Snow by Jeanne Newton Schoburg
prints available at Fine Art America

There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy

When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie

 It’ll nearly be like a picture print by

 Courier and Ives

These wonderful days are the things we

 Remember all through our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving

 We woke up to an inch of snow and the sound of snowplows on the road.  I've placed a little red X on our location.  We are right on the line between 24-36" and 36-48".  It will depend on the wind direction.  It is not super cold this time so this shouldn't be a killing storm if people stay sensible. We've missed out completely on the last three major lake effect events that buried the Buffalo NY area under feet of snow.  It has been years since we had to shovel our roof.  Last winter we only plowed three times and each time it was melted the next day.  Looks like we might get in on the action this time.  My husband has said several times that he is sick of mowing the lawn and looking forward to a chance to plow some snow.  We may as well enjoy it while we are still youngish.

These are the expected totals between now and Monday.  We are going to a nearby restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner today (we both are ordering prime rib instead) and we don't have any place to be after that.  I made a pumpkin pie this morning and there is plenty of food in the house including turkey and stuffing leftovers in the freezer if we choose.  We will get the Christmas tree down from the attic and cozy up for the weekend.  I wouldn't mind spending some time in the snow with all the sounds muffled and everything still and lazy.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Merry Christmas

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

 

Here is a YouTube playlist of my first and favorite Christmas record.

A&P Christmas vol 3 1972

Wild Forage Wreath

 Today started out beautiful.  It has been gloomy and rainy and we have more rain and mixed precip on its way.  But this morning was warm and sunny and we were tempted outside just to do whatever.  Hose off the car, pull a few weeds. ...Sit and think.  This morning as we were coming home from breakfast I noticed that many of our neighbors had put out some greens and red bows.  Even the neighbors who are never home.  There are not a lot of outdoor decorations or lights because we are on a dead end and there just isn't a lot of traffic to enjoy them.  But I suddenly felt our home was looking kind of Scroogey.  I went as far as to pull out a wreath form and a paddle of floral wire.  Outside we had sat for about 5 minutes when I decided I should get going on my wreath while I could forage in nice weather and while I could keep the mess outside.

I've made many wreaths over the years.  My mother always makes beautiful Blue Spruce wreaths for gifts and my sister brings us one of those for our front door.  All I needed was a basic blob of green to go out front by the road.  So I can use anything I can forage and most of what we have is Hemlock which will drop every last needle before the end.  But its not going in the house and its not going on the door, so it can shed all it wants.  It isn't hard to find a nice variety in your average woodland and you can just trim the low cross branches or anything that smacks you in the head when you mow the lawn.

I ended up with Hemlock (from the yard), Spruce (from the dry creek bed), Pine (from the woods)  and Juniper (from the front landscape).  I considered adding some rose hips, but it turned out not to be necessary.  When making a wreath for a door I would usually use a wire coat hanger bent into a circle.  Those are the perfect size for your average door.  But I needed something a little bigger scale so I used a 18" (?) wire wreath form salvaged in past years.  All you do is cut up your branches to shortish tips, make a little bundle, lay it along the form and wrap the paddle wire around it.  You never cut the wire you just wrap it off of the paddle.

It was immediately apparent that I had underestimated the amount of greens I would need,  I wanted a big, full wreath.  But I didn't want to harvest too much unnecessarily, so I made several trips around the wood edge.  I added a bright red bow and wire tied it, top and bottom, to the front fence rail.  

Now it at least looks like we are making an effort!