Happy Independence Day!

Wherever you celebrate, enjoy our nation's special day.

Dichondra Silver Falls has reached the doorstep so these plants will be transplanted to the garden and I'll fill in with succulents for the next few months.  Succulents are easier since they require less water and keeping the basket watered has been a challenge.

¡Feliz Navidad Y’all!

It's December so let's get this party started with a visit to Mi Tierra, a San Antonio icon for 75 years.  Wow, they go all out for the holidays don't they?  Not exactly, the restaurant looks like this year round which means we can have Christmas in July or whenever.  A huge panaderia or bakery spans one side of the lobby.

Je suis....

Our red, white, and blue tree, a tradition we began in December 2001, has been changed up a bit for 2015.  Instead of the usual five stripes there are just three and it's bleu, blanc, rouge.  We still have wonderful memories of celebrating a special anniversary in Paris nearly 20 years ago.   Overlooking the City of Light from the Eiffel Tower at midnight  was an unforgettable moment.

Lady Liberty, a gift from France.

NYC skyline on the other side.

So, here's looking at you Paris, may those lights continue to shine.

Joyeux Noël

Harmony

Highlights of our recent visit to Pennsylvania continue with the historic town of Harmony, Pennsylvania.  It is the nearest town to the farm where Neal grew up.  The current population is listed at 937 and the whole town is about 1/2 square mile.

The town of Harmony or Harmonie, as it was originally named, was established in 1804 by a communal group known as the Harmony Society or Harmonites.  The Harmonites lived here for ten years and sold the town to Mennonites before moving on to Indiana in 1815.

I have always enjoyed visiting Harmony so let's take a tour.  Along the town square is the Harmony Museum.  It was built by the Harmonites in 1809 and has an amazing vaulted wine cellar in the basement.  It's closed on Mondays so we couldn't go inside on this visit.

Visiting McConnell's Mill State Park

Throughout December I've been sharing tours around Western Pennsylvania from our recent visit.  You can read about our visit to local Amish country here.  From Volant we headed over to McConnell's Mill State Park to see Slippery Rock Gorge and the second covered bridge still in use in Lawrence County. 

The drive through the park starts off with tree-lined roads and picnic areas.  The evergreens are Hemlock which are a fixture here.

Living like it's 1849: Volant and Amish Country

Throughout December I've been sharing highlights of our recent visit to the Fox family farm near Harmony, Pennsylvania.  Today we'll take in some of the sights in the surrounding countryside as we visit the Amish country of Lawrence County and drive across a covered bridge.

Old stone houses like this one built around 1837 as a tavern are common in the area.

Phipps Conservatory Part 2

Our holiday tour of the beautiful Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh continues with Part 2.  You can find Part 1 here.

After touring the galleries on the east side of the conservatory we went back through the center Palm Court.

Phipps Conservatory Part 1

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we toured the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh.  Built in 1893 it's a Lord & Burnham building just like the U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory we visited earlier in the week while in Washington D.C.  Two conservatories in one week decked out for the holidays set a good holiday mood.

Phipps is located in Shenley Park near both Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh just east of downtown.  Although it looks a bit understated compared to the more dramatic placement of the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Phipps is much larger with impressive holiday displays.  Too big to get in one photo from the sidewalk, this is just the right side of the building.

Pennsylvania and Homemade Pumpkin Pie

We left Washington DC late on Tuesday evening headed for "Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie" just like the song "Home for the Holidays".  Neal's mom lives on the family farm in rural western Pennsylvania, which was our Thanksgiving destination.  It was raining like crazy and the temperature was hovering right around freezing as we eased our rental car into the miles-long backup on the GW Parkway awaiting our turn to join the traffic jam known as the Capitol Beltway.  It was 7:30 pm and just like old times.  Too much so, as we remembered the last time we made this drive in the rain it took about nine hours to go 275 miles.  We decided the best option was to stay south of the snow line and headed west across the top of Maryland on I-68.  (Sorry Texas, California, Florida, but Maryland wins hands down for the oddest shaped state.  Look it up.)  We drove through an ice storm at Sideling Hill while cheering for the salt trucks which were doing a great job keeping the roads passable.  Just north of Morgantown, West Virginia, the rain turned to snow and began piling up on the hillsides.  More than six hours after we started out Neal's brother met us at the Pittsburgh Airport where we dropped off the rental car and headed north another half hour to Harmony.  We finally arrived at Neal's mom's house at around 2 am.  It had taken planes, trains, and automobiles to get us to the family homestead for Thanksgiving.

We awoke to a snowy Wednesday morning.  I've been here for Thanksgiving many times and have never seen more than a few flurries.  It was very cold but we just had to go for a walk while there was still a bit of snow falling and I had never seen the farm in snow.  It was incredible.

The camera was not set to monochrome--these are the colors of a gray, snowy day.  The now-empty pasture used to hold a small herd of cattle.  There is a creek at the far end of the pasture beyond the barn.

The U.S. Botanic Garden

A business trip to Washington DC during Thanksgiving week for my husband had me tagging along and I knew the conservatory of the U.S. Botanic Garden had to be at the top of my must-see list.  Neal's schedule allowed just enough time for him to join me.  It was fun to be tourists in a city we know so well even if only for a few hours.  The gardens and conservatory are literally in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol and quite a striking sight.  The gardens were founded in 1816 and the conservatory was built by Lord & Burnham in 1933.

A Garden Remembrance for Veteran's Day

It's Veteran's Day in the U.S, a holiday established to thank those who have served their country in the armed forces.  Known as Poppy Day in Great Britain, red poppies are the traditional flower on this day.

Poppies aren't blooming in my garden today, but I did find this appropriately red, white, and blue combination in the circle garden.

From the top:  Blue Gregg's Mistflower, White Boneset, and Red Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields'

Thank you to all our veterans!