Planters and Pretty Things

These last winter months have been rather unpoetically hectic and poetically grey. Taking my time to enjoy its little moments though has been very pleasurable. Pausing in my walk home yesterday, I heard the steady dripping of a melting icicle hanging from the eaves and I waited until the dripping climaxed in the icicle slipping down and crashing into the shrubs below. Staying rewarded me with a second crescendo to the plodding sound of the drops in the snow.
In between midterms and studying- reading Chaucer and Shakespeare, which has likely been the most wonderful kind of studying I have experienced- the new IKEA catalogue has been catching my eye. I am utterly enamored with this sweet little greenhouse which is destined to find its way to my house and windowsill on my next trip to the coast.
Also, my fox has gained two new friends. My boyfriend so kindly surprised me with the adorable hedgehog the other day and the antelope was a rather impulsive purchase from the clearance table from the local toy store. He reminded me, however vaguely, of the forest spirit of Princess Mononoke.

Strawberry Hide and Seek

We have had a late summer this year (it did not start to get warm until very nearly July) and my household garden has been abundantly productive all through September. A short while back we concluded it could not last much longer and began bringing the last things in. The cucumbers and tomatoes are still producing as is the spice garden, but the strawberries are in their last for the year. If you've played strawberry hide and seek before, you know exactly how this goes.

Strawberries hide...

 

... and seek!

They are terribly sneaky.

And terribly tasty.