Advent Wreath

This year I made my  Advent wreath* of Christmas ornaments. When I lived in Germany I bought this great metal base that can be filled with anything, so you can change your schemes every year. I don't belong to any organized religion, but I like this tradition.

If only I had other candles. I wasn't feeling well last week and didn't have a chance to buy new candles. It was the first Advent * weekend on December 1, and I wanted to finish, so I had to use the old ones. I hope to get new ones this week.

*
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming".
Advent is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday. The Eastern churches' equivalent of Advent is called the Nativity Fast, but it differs in both length and observances and does not begin the church year, which starts instead on September 1. At least in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Moravian, Presbyterian and Methodist calendars, Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before December 25, which is the Sunday between November 27 and December 3 inclusive.
The Advent wreath, or Advent crown, is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent. The Advent Wreath is traditionally a Lutheran practice, albeit it has spread to many other Christian denominations.
It is usually a horizontal evergreen wreath with four candles.  Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, the lighting of a candle can be accompanied by a Bible reading and prayers. An additional candle is lit during each subsequent week until, by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four candles are lit.  The custom is observed both in family settings and at public church services.

 from Wikipedia

Warmer mug

So, I was writing about "knitting" last time, and it actually reminded me how much I used to love to knit.

Unfortunately, my life has been for many years more about packing and relocating or studying new vocabulary, recently also gardening, but now when I am not about to move any time soon (at least I don't know about anything!) the winter is almost here, so the gardening is over for now, I was thinking that I could get back to that activity. I somehow had  a strong urge to check what is new 'in the yarn world' , and discovered really interesting one - something I haven't used before. I purchased one to try how it would look like.

 

I have an idea what I want to do with it, but would like to work on the design a bit more.

 

As a sample, I made this mug warmer. The yarn actually looks much nicer in reality. ( I couldn't get a better picture for some reason)

 

 



Finally gardening

As a child I was completely fascinated by a rock garden of my neighbor. I remember I just loved the alpine plans organized between rocks and the whole look of the garden. We had mainly carrots, tomatoes and potatoes in ours which I like to eat, but not so much to plant and care for, so I started to create my own tiny rock garden in a corner of the garden surrounded by vegetables.

If I think about it now that was exactly the moment when my passion for a landscape design started. My mother used to say that I have green fingers after my grandmother. Unfortunately with all the relocating and living mainly in apartments, I didn't have much opportunity to create many garden designs. Instead I turned to indoor plants ( WOW label - "house plants" in American English ) which I love as well.
Many years ago I also got my first Bonsai and I was hooked. I can't help myself, I love these mini plants and from there comes my interest in Japanese/Zen gardens. I find these arrangements so calming, peaceful and a feast for your eyes. At least for me it is, so it is no surprise that I would love to bring a bit of Japan in my own garden :-)

To be honest a tropical garden would be also on my list, I was in heaven when visiting my husband's family in South Africa and couldn't take my eyes off all the flora there, but I could hardly recreate any type of tropics here in Chicago. Well, at least not in winter. It is July now and the last week's temperatures were hovering near 35 C with the humidity around 70%. Definitely not for me, so I will stay with my Japanese ideas for now.

Last year I visited Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois which is about 1 hour and a half from my place. The 14 acre gardens were established in 1978 by John Anderson and landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu.

 

 

 

I took many pictures there and have been researching more about the design and plants I can use.

My first load of plants arrived last week and I can't wait to enjoy them in my garden. I just have to wait for all the utilities to be marked on the property.

 

 

 

Ceramics - other projects

I have already mentioned my first ceramics course before, and here are other projects I worked on during the course.

I love plants, particularly bonsai, so I decided to make some bonsai dishes and other plant pots.

Also a sushi set - soy sauce dispenser and ginger container with a lid and two plates, ... candle holder etc.

I was only learning, so it isn't perfect, but I had lots of fun. I definitely hope to improve my skills in the future.

Ceramics... for birds

I have been busy with preparing everything for our move, actually started to move small items in a car, and came across a box with a label 'bird feeders'.

Some time ago I took my very first ceramics class and among other things made this bird feeder for my husband's birthday. He loves birds, and so do I, but unfortunately it hasn't found it's way in a garden yet. Since then we have been moving and it was buried in a box.

Now, since we have just bought a house, I hope it will be hanging in a tree soon, we just have to plant some first :-)

I would like to carry on with ceramics in the future as I really enjoy working with clay.

BAOBABS



I love trees. Baobab tree of Madagascar is one of my favourite. So, when I decided some time ago to try a new form of art, I chose to paint a baobab landscape for my watercolour project. I used a picture from National Geographic Magazine. I haven't been to Madagascar, so I haven't seen Madagascar baobab in real life, but I would love to one day!

 

This is the result of my attempt.

 

About Baobab:
 

Genus name - Adansonia
There are eight species, six native to Madagascar (it is the national tree of Madagascar), one to Africa and one to Australia.  

They are also called "bottle trees" or "upside-down trees". They can reach up to 30 metres (98ft) and trunk up to 11 metres (36ft).

It is difficult to verify the age of the tree as it does not produce annual growth rings, but it is believed that some baobabs are many thousands of years old.

 

The Baobab tree is also known as the "tree of life". It can store hundreds of litres of water and the bark is fire resistant. The leaves are used in medicine, the fruit - called "monkey bread" is edible and rich in Vitamin C.