Creativity

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February 15, 2010

Obvious proof of global warming…

Posted by Homemaker, MD under Along the Way, Creativity | Tags: |
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Snow comes to Charleston, South Carolina.

Um, yeah. I was kinda kidding about the global warming.

This past weekend saw the heaviest snowfall Charleston had seen since the winter after Hugo hit in 1989.

We awoke this morning to over 2 inches of snow in a thick carpet on everything we could see outside. Happily we were up early before any of the neighbors and saw our yard in pristine form. We’d enjoyed a fire last night while it fell, venturing to the front porch sporadically as it accumulated. It was almost beyond belief to see it here, in Charleston of all places! We woke our daughter early (7:15! –yes that’s early for her, thanks babywise) for a good play in the yard. She was in shock at the site of the stuff. We constructed a petite snowman complete with carrot nose and raisened eyes and buttons, and then we loaded up into the car, eager to see the city under the white powder.  Through an incredibly icy west ashley we slowly rolled in the tahoe, with a camera out the window at every landmark, crossing the bridges with care. It was barely 8am by this time, and we made it to the pennisula before much melting began.  To to see Charleston’s high battery in snowy splendor is a rare treasure. We took a zillion photos all over downtown: the benches and famous pinapple fountain at waterfront park, a fluffy white Rainbow Row, famous iron gates across the city gilded in snow, windowboxes heavy with it. We peeked into countless of our favorite walled gardens, lingering on Legare Street, glimpsing hedges and ornate sculptures covered in snow. After downtown began to drip, we jumped back into the tahoo and slowly made our way over the Cooper river on the icy bridge. The temp was 10 degrees colder on the other side, as the penisula is always the warmest spot in town. We got coffee and warm chick-fil-a biscuits (the place was packed) and arrived at IOP (Isle of Palms for those of you non-locals) to find it was a winter wonderland too. Snowy beaches! Very weird.

Our back yard, complete with snowy palmetto:

What city is this?

The harbor on the Ashley:

Our favorite bench at Waterfront Park:

More photos from the harbor on the Ashley:

The Pinapple Fountain at Waterfront:

Charleston’s Battery:

A Charleston Garden entrance

This kid doesn’t look like he likes the snow; he’s used to his Charleston garden being sunny:

The snowy marsh:

A snowy dune on Isle of Palms:

 

December 14, 2009

A tour of my Christmas Home

Posted by Homemaker, MD under Creativity
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I’m on tour with the Nester Christmas tour of homes 2009, as well as Hooked on Holiday House tours!

Welcome to Charleston, please visit for a while!

I repainted my front door earlier this year…is it green or black? Neither–it’s Charleston Green, a classic color around here. Like my garland? I realized this year I’m kind of a garland snob…meaning I really prefer to use real greenery! I made the wreath and garlands on the front porch from all the free clippings at lowe’s where we got our tree. They didn’t seem to mind me getting a little extra from the bin…

Come on in to my foyer. Most of the greenery I used in my Christmas decorations I acquired from all the trees in my my yard, so now, instead of beautiful magnolia trees, bay trees, and holly bushes, I have barren sticks. Just kidding, I barely made a dent! Here in my foyer I made a cedar garland. I really thought about hacking the cedar tree down the street apart for this thing, but didn’t think the neighbors would like that. So I spent $10 for a couple bunches of cedar at the wholesale florist I’ve used a lot in the past. Up on the tops of both doorways are the “kissing balls”, made of bay and mistltoe. I can put up the tutorial for them later this week if any of you are interested. They took like 15 minutes to make, super easy!

I love having a red dining room! Here is a little still life for you…

The table runner is full of magnolia clippings poinsetta, candles and ornaments. Since I have a one-year-old, this is the only place I could use my glass ornaments without her getting at them! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the cat doesn’t attack them and break them, or eat any poinsetta!

Look out for the kissing ball on your way to the kitchen!

Here is the view from my kitchen. It’s a good thing it’s looking good because I have a LOT of baking to do this week! I have a pile of ribbons to add to the tree, so I’ll have to add the final tree photo later!

I conveniently positioned my camera so you don’t quite see the toys on the living room floor!

As you enter the living room you pass the piano. I have our advent calendar on it. There is a tiny sized nativity with one piece on each day of the last month of december(baby Jesus doesn’t get taken out and put in place until the 25th), and a Scripture reading from our church’s advent schedule to go along with each day, as we anticipate the celebration of the incarnation.

Here is a closer look at our mantle. I used Martha Stewart’s intructions for the dried pomegranate and bay garland. it turned out just how I hoped. I can use the dried pomegranates year after year, so I went ahead and bought them. The bay is from our yard. The nativity on the mantle was once brown with some colors, but I thought a coat of gold metallic paint would serve it better.

To your left, on the same wall as the piano, is my violin. Having it hanging there makes me grab it more frequently to play. This afternoon was “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” and my daughter tried to play the piano along with me, since she can reach the keys now! I thought the violin could use a Christmas bow.

The horse: fake. The cat: real. I know, she looks beautiful. She’s a Ragdoll cat. The best breed there is! She thinks she’s either a human or a dog, and is a purring machine.

I made this garland. I used sculpty clay to mold these little word tags and then strung them together. They were going to be ornaments at first but I like this better.

I picked up a bunch of small cypruss and pines from lowes for a pittance and wrapped the bases in burlap to match each other. Perfect for the top counter!

Time to sit at the kitchen table and relax for a bit.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your tour! Come back to visit! Later this week I’ll be posting some decorating updates as I finish a few more projects, as well as the tutorial for the kissing balls. Have a great day!

 

October 28, 2009

Freedom through Homemaking

Posted by Homemaker, MD under Creativity, From my Bookshelf, On Being a Homemaker
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I recently ran across a reference to this essay by G.K. Chesterton on Domesticiy, and simply had to post one of my favorite parts here:

She should have not one trade but twenty hobbies; she, unlike the man, may develop all her second bests. This is what has been really aimed at from the first in what is called the seclusion, or even the oppression, of women. Women were not kept at home in order to keep them narrow; on the contrary, they were kept at home in order to keep them broad. The world outside the home was one mass of narrowness, a maze of cramped paths, a madhouse of monomaniacs. It was only by partly limiting and protecting the woman that she was enabled to play at five or six professions and so come almost as near to God as the child when he plays at a hundred trades. But the woman’s professions, unlike the child’s, were all truly and almost terribly fruitful;

This sentiment rings so true with me! Sure, I enjoyed becoming a specialist and being able to develop a sense of expertise in the field of adult medicine. But now that I’ve been a homemaker for a little while, I’m really coming to realize how beautiful the spectrum of what I can do here is. I can nurture my “twenty hobbies” without feeling the need to become an “expert” or professional in each of them. For instance, I can play the violin for my daughter as she pounds on the piano next to me, and do it well–even play in friends’ weddings, without making it the only thing I do all day every day. I can create complex recipes from my Julia Child cookbook to suprise my husband and broaden my cooking skills without having to enter a competition or write a cookbook. I can advise family and friends in medical issues, checking the latest evidence, without the confines of hanging a shingle. I can paint a landscape inspired by the waves of the ocean or the vast marshes to brighten a corner of our home, and develop my skills as a painter, without setting up shop in a gallery downtown. I can do all of these things without having to compete in the marketplace to become the very best at any of them, and find fulfillment in the way in which I can glorify God in them, without turning them into my vocation! This is a taste of freedom, not the imprisonment modern feminists would call homemaking.

In Edith Schaeffer’s book, The Hidden Art of Homemaking, she touched on this philosophy a bit as well. I read it late last year and it inspired me with the affirmation that I can use even my weakest gifts to create beauty in ways that edify. But lately I think I’m really beginning to look at this new vocation of mine as the canvas upon which I can paint with each of my hobbies and talents in ways that will build up my home and bring glory to God. The bredth of unique challenges faced in my daily calling brings opportunity for growth in so many areas.

Just some quick thoughts…
Now on to develope my handyman skills in fixing my dryer!