Category Archives: blogging

Terrariums, the White House and Santa!

Today is catch up day for me. I’m trying to house clean before we start the holiday baking and cooking, and before the Grandmas start arriving next weekend. I just handed the bulk of my Christmas cards to the mailman. I have pulled pork in the crock pot, and I really, really need to fold and put away a ton (literally) of laundry! If I can do these few things, all will be well with the world… It’s coming along, that’s all I can say. Of course, over coffee this morning I did a little bit of blog reading and wanted to share a few of my favorites with you.

First off, Amy-Sue at a Healthy Life for Me blogged about how to make these adorable terrarium ornaments. They would make a wonderful gift, but I can also see them hanging in the windows of our new office.   Here’s the link  for you to check out.

Then I thoroughly enjoyed this post  that my friend Eunice at Living and Lovin had re-blogged from a new-to-me  blog called The Garden Diaries. It describes the blogger’s adventures as a volunteer decorator at the White House last year. “Decorating the White House for Christmas” has now been added to my bucket list. What a great story and wonderful  photos!

Lastly, I loved this post shared by my dear friend Joy at Diary of a Crazed Housewife.

Joy is fortunate to be related to Santa and she shares that privilege with special children in her life… very, very cute!

So, that was my early morning reading… I hope it makes you smile 🙂

 I’m off to dust, vacuum, fold and take kids places and I have two hours and twenty seven minutes before the little kids get off of the bus!

Enjoy Everything!

Michele

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My 100th Post!

It’s very hard to believe that I’ve reached my 100th post… who’d have ever thought it…certainly not me. I remember my first post well. I was so nervous. I’d never done this or anything quite like it before, other than joining Facebook, and other yahoo groups and web sites a long time ago. This was completely different… my little kingdom where I could post anything I wanted, wide open and completely unchartered territory!  So I started posting photos and captions, and writing about them. Lots of my posts were about the garden and my family, which is where my heart is. Sometimes I think I’d like to write a very polished and professional gardening blog, then I find myself writing and sounding just like myself. I’m not generally polished and professional. I can be if needed but I don’t think I’ll ever have that well-spoken, intellectual tone that gets freshly pressed and recognized widely. That’s okay, I’m going to enjoy this and be comfortable in my own skin. I’d like to use The Salem Garden to help people. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Maybe I should laser focus in on basic gardening concepts, or start another blog dedicated to helping people who are in very difficult circumstances? Those who are close know that I’ve had kind of a Forest Gump type of experience, especially in the past seven years. I may write about all of that someday, we’ll see.

In the meantime here’s a re-cap of some of my favorite moments from the past six months or so…

The garden at the beginning of the season, all planted in and ready to go..IMG_0311

This was my third post, the one about turkeys in the yard…IMG_5727Then I wanted to give you an idea about what  Salem is really like…IMG_3908And of course, I posted about weeds. I never, ever profess to be a perfect gardener in any way. I make lots and lots of mistakes and I have no professional experience. I just love it and that’s what I share.IMG_0738Then there are these moments, when we can just enjoy the view. IMG_0751The little kids and I planted potatoes!IMG_0769and there were always chickens..IMG_7674And the Common..IMG_7732And kids helping. I love this photo, I used it on our family Christmas Card this year..IMG_7777People loved the green monster post. I should decorate more, and blog about decorating more. There is a really big audience for that!IMG_7806I should post more recipes too, this chocolate chip cookies recipe post is a big favorite…IMG_7829and there’s always more chickens… In the spring I might do some nitty gritty chicken maintenance posts with Michael, especially if we have baby chicks again. Chickens are fun!IMG_7853The bee balm grew.IMG_8605And I posted about my dream house… this was widely read too. I may do a series of dream houses…  IMG_8584We played on the beach at Winter Island a lot..IMG_8754And enjoyed one of my favorite gardens anywhere! IMG_8085There have been waterfalls…IMG_0794

And very special visitors..

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I visited lots of gardens and I have a very long list that I missed!  IMG_8306

We even painted chairs one dayIMG_0094The garden kept growing and growing…IMG_9490We had the experience of Hurricane Sandy, although we were spared the worst of it.. There was also the near miss of the tornado. Who would have ever thought this would happen?DSC00859You all seemed to enjoy this guy last weekend! So did I!
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and now we’re looking at the winter garden…

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It’s time to settle in for the long New England winter, plan for the spring and enjoy a some quiet, cold days. I have lots of thoughts for the winter edition of The Salem Garden… It will be fun!!

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, correcting, and cheering me on!

I love it here.

Michele