Gardens in Winter

The frost on my window is so high only a sliver of scenery is visible, and outside the once-soft snow has sublimated into something more like sterofoam.  Without a doubt,  January is the perfect time to plan and dream of gardens.
    Bright tomatoes, with bottoms like sunsets and tops like pumpkins, grace the cover of my Seed Saver's Exchange catalog.   I fell in love with Seed Saver's colorful heirloom vegetables back in my days of apartment living.  I gardened vicariously, planting their blue potatoes, red dragon carrots, and yellow watermelons.
    Now I get to pick for real.  My desk is fill of lists of possible produce and areal drawings of my yard, spiffed up with crayon to make my gardening intentions clear to the whole family.  Solomon has insisted on potatoes, and has chosen the yukon gold variety.  Nova is most looking forward to watermelon--surprisingly, she is a vegetable traditionalist (in terms of color) and has picked out the handsome Chris Cross strain.   For Charles we will plant cucumbers, though he may have to eat them in the form of pickles since he will be away.  I, of course, want tomatoes.  The rest (including the fruit trees) are yet to be decided.  

 

You may have noticed that I often post about things we do away from home.  I love cultural events and museums, history and the outdoors.  I love travel and outings, encapsulated time bound up in a well planned sequence, with every need prepared for--even spontinaity.

But there is another reason I rarely write about home.  I'm not particularly fond of it.  Yes, I was (and still am) thrilled we were able to buy a house last Fall.  Yes, I like the floor plan, the hardwood floors, the 1940s doorbell that chimes once for the back door and twice for the front; but I don't love my home.  It feels, not like a refuge, but more like a big closet--with beds; a place we dump our stuff and sleep when we are not out in the wide world.  In short, it is not cared for.  I have often told myself that the barrier to a more inviting home is money.  Lack of funds for decorating and so forth.

But that is not true.  I knew it the minute I felt warm, fuzzy house-pride after putting up plastic to insulate our 70-year-old windows.  Window plastic is ugly!  But it made me feel so good about my living space because it was evidence of care.

The point of this long ramble is to explain my challenge to myself.  Make my bedroom into a warm inviting place with a focus on using what I have.

I was planing on putting up a before picture.  In short--I chickened out.  Maybe I will put one up alongside an after picture. 

  

When Asia was the World

What a fascinating place mideveal Asia was!  Europe was certainly not the place to be from about 600-1500 AD/CE, but it was an excellent time to be in Asia.  During Europe's Dark Ages, glass making, silk, cotton, sophisticated trade, the rise of new religions, and the invention of zero were just a few of the things going on east of the Ural mountains.
    I've been reading  When Asia was the World by Stewart Gordon in preparation for studying Persia, India and China with the kids.  The book follows the memoirs of a different traveler in each chapter, giving plenty of backround information about the greater historical context.  I love it!  I must warn any who pick it up--it is history, not fiction.  It does not read like Devil in the White City (History as a page-turning, heart-thumping thriller).   However, it does feel like a whole new fantastic world.  There is so much out there we just never get to in standard History survey courses.  All of Asian history is like a great big epic I've never heard of before.  Lots of place names are new and almost all ancient historical figures are unfamiliar.  New History, what fun.

PS  The link embedded in the title will take you to Amazon, not because I'm urging any purchases, but because the look inside feature gives a chance to peruse the first few pages.