Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

Here is a beautiful moment photographed by a friend of mine, JosAnne Gill, who I have known since the 1st grade!

And since butterflies represent transformation, here is a quote to go with your moment of beauty:

“He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.” -  Proverb

Orchids have long lasting blooms

I enjoy living in Colorado and enjoying the different seasons but I miss seeing flowers and leaves and green outside our windows in the winter.

As much as I appreciate plants and flowers, I don’t have much of a green thumb.  But even for someone like me, there is hope.

There are a few plants and flowers that grow well indoors and bring splashes of color and spring to a gray and cold winter’s day.

Orchids
Orchids are often on sale in the winter at your local grocery store, garden center, or places like home depot.  The blooms are long lasting and absolutely gorgeous in an array of colors and sizes.

I don’t worry about the fact that I may not be able to keep it living for months or years.

Amaryllis

Amaryllis
My husband brought home a pre-planted container with 3 amaryllis.  They have each bloomed at different times.  Just add water!

Paperwhite blooming

Paperwhites
Paperwhite bulbs are fun to grow all winter.  A lot of people think of them only at Christmas but you can start bulbs at different times and always have some in the process of blooming.

You don’t even need any soil to grow these.  You can put them in bulb vases or other containers with just plain water and simply add and change the water once a week or so.

These are so much fun to watch them grow.  Sometimes it is like watching a science experiment.  This one had more roots than I’ve ever seen!

Paperwhite bulb

Cyclamen

Cyclamen
We love the pop of color these cyclamen bring to the indoors during winter and even summer.  My husband takes care of these – that is why they look so good!

He doesn’t do anything special with them except keep them watered but we have found these will bloom for a very long time and then bloom again, winter and summer.  They come in shades of pink, white, and red.

He planted them in a larger planter and that helps to keep them from drying out too fast.

Rosemary or Herbs
In our climate, even the perinnial herbs will go dormant in the winter so it is nice to have a few indoors.

I’ve had luck in the past with rosemary, although it seems to dry out very quickly and has to be watered often.  If you forget and the leaves start to dry, it is usually hard to get it to come back but all isn’t lost!  You can cut off them stems and dry them and use the rosemary dried instead of fresh.

It is a bonus to have the wonderful aroma of herbs and to use them when you are cooking.

My son says I am pumpkin “obsessed”.

That weekend that I came home with a pumpkin to display, a six pack of America’s Original Pumpkin Ale by Buffalo Bill’s Brewery, and ingredients to continue my quest to make the best pumpkin pie.

Obsessed? Perhaps.

As soon as the calendar turns to September, I crave pumpkin delicacies of all sorts. Pumpkin muffins and bread, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin ravioli.

One of our favorite restaurants has a delectable pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust that is only available for about 6 weeks in the fall.

I also love the look of pumpkins that come in a range of sizes and colors, each with their own personality.

I’m not sure if it’s my love of fall with the colors and briskness in the air or the fact that pumpkins are only available a couple months of the year but there is something about them that simply delights me. So, I go with it.

My tip of the month to you is that if something delights you, go with it.

When you find things that delight you, it is not something to ignore.

Delight will also give you clues to answering questions about yourself.

And as you see in the picture above, I’ve put the six pack container to use and filled it with bottles of orange and red flowers, the last of our summer flowers beginning to fade. The fun black cat is a papier mache pen made by Johanna Parker, an artist who specializes in Halloween and Holiday collectibles.

By the way, my son said the pumpkin pie I made was the best one yet.