January/ Quietude

qui·e·tude

noun a state of stillness, calmness, and quiet in a person or place.

Good evening! It's mid-January, the quiet depths of winter are settling around us here at the beach. I'm  surprised reading your blog posts and comments how many of us enjoy the slow quiet months of winter. 

It took me til now to finally eradicate holiday items in my house. Last to get cupboarded were my mercury glass jars and bottles. The house is softly blue again, with wintery touches of brown and black.

Please forgive the bath towels on the sofas! It was a rainy day and Mo adores a muddy winter garden plot or wet nasty puddle, in his best doggy fashion. Then I took the pics, not even seeing, oh well.

Not much new here: the blue seashell toile cushions. Someone asked me if they button on and off, and yes they do, making it easy to switch to the reds or cheddars. The larger pillow covers have envelope closings and can easily be switched too.

Here I'm auditioning a lovely blue and grey ikat inen for future pillows. The ticking will be the backs.

This lovely quilt, by Denise Davis, anchoring the grey farmhouse stripe runner and my turquoise metal tin. 

I filled the tin with extra large pine cones and seashells, a found under the sofa sprig of pine---a winter-y mix but not Christmassy. 

I love how the turquoise container picks up the similar subtle duck egg blue in the quilt.

On the big chair a knitted Fair Isle sweater pillow with the quilt remnant Coxscomb pillow behind it.

A not often used but beautiful blue polka dots Star of Bethlehem quilt over the arm.

I had left the red and white china but probably will change it out this weekend; not fond of ed Valentine decor. 

Also have out white ironstone, 

and can't resist filling the pitchers with spring flowers, already appearing in the grocery store.

The bride's bench corner:

 My H Sandy/ NYC Flea market large crock filled with winter berries,

Another beautiful swap quilt by Barbara Black. 

and the big wooden bowl has its Valentine nod of heart shaped molds and cooky cutters. This corner has become a fun display area for me.

I thought this stack of textiles was interesting. I had pulled together linens for the switch to blue, then decided bare polished wood was better for winter. I must look for some lavender-lemon beeswax polish on etsy or a recipe for it to make myself. [Mel?].

Such an eclectic mix: a fine but sadly overused quilt remnant, a runner made with Japanese indigos, ikats. A small calico doll quilt, A handwoven Swedish table runner, Suzani print tablecloth from Pakistan. As the winter progresses I will rotate some of these pieces into my rooms for a change of "eye-interest".

My winter candles are: ''Fireside" and, well, "Winter".

Of course my days seem filled with endless frigid Mo walks. [However will we cope next week when it may be as cold as 7* and windy.]  I am already impatient with the layering needed to stay outdoors: on top of usual underwear, two pairs of pants, the outer one being wind and snow proof hiking pants. Two tee shirts, one cashmere turtleneck one Patagonia knitted fleece vest, a down parka. Wool socks, leg warmers. Scarf, headband, optional woolly pom hat. Outdoor clogs or Uggs. Fingerless mittens with thin Polar-Tec gloves underneath. My worry---if I need this when it's 30 out, how cold will I feel when it's zero!

Mo and I go out  at 5 now--still light!--to inspect the daily work of the giant earth movers. We dare not approach when the men and their trucks are operating.

They are so----exuberant, enthusiastic, piloting their giant beasts among the usually forbidden dunes, often at quite high speeds. It looks like they really enjoy their jobs.

 All work must stop by March 1st for the returning plovers, I hope.

The flood area was covered today, as were the big storm drains. And the ancient ship's timber that I loved, 3 feet + diameter, even tho squared---is gone/ buried. Probably no one but me knew it and loved It all these years, but still. I'm sad.

Now:

2011, same exact view:  "the shipwreck"

On our earlier walk we go the other direction sometimes.

Today we inspected the icy  koi pond. The koi are there, motionless, looking like frozen carrots under the skim of ice.

I'm not progressing as planned on my fun projects, too bad. Instead I tackled a big walk in closet that was stuffed to the rafters with ''someone else's" clothes. Suits, parkas, and golf shirts galore. I need the space to store my quilts , especially ones I plan to sell. They need to be measures and inspected and accessible. And I parted with two table cloths, I was a little uncertain about that, but they aren't useful to me...fun holiday themed but daily use cotton cloths from when my kids were small.

We donated everything to a local church that runs a soup kitchen for people in need; they will sort out warm clothes that are useful and donate or sell the rest, as fine Italian suits may be less than useful to their clientele. I was happy knowing the clothes and old paperback books would in part go to real people in need. There's more in that closet to remove but after filling 5 contractor bags with heavy wool suits and wooden hangers, I was so sore and exhausted that I had to cancel my thrifting/ dinner outing this week. Better now, but....?

My gesture to minimalist home, I suppose.

The weekend may be icy. I postponed breadmaking til then. And I plan to make a big dish of roasted veggies: parsnips, miniature sweet potatoes, tiny cippolini onions, green cabbage---for a variety of uses. I esp love the roasted vegs mixed with quinoa or farro. Have a good weekend! Stay indoors if it's icy.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Below, I think this is cancelled? It will be too warm for accumulated snow. Fingers crossed.]

WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOONTHROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON...* WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation possible. Total snowaccumulations of 3 to 5 inches and ice accumulations of up toone tenth of an inch possible. Winds could gust as high as 35mph.

PS I saw a great story, maybe on FB?: A woman responded to a minimalist guru whose rule is Keep only what you love and brings you joy; throw everything else away. The woman wrote in her Amazon review: ''I kept all my fabric  and I threw away your book."