Tree Lined Streets 2011

Orphaned Christmas trees fill the streets of New York City at this time, giving a new meaning to the phrase "tree-lined streets" and it is a sad sight. The photographs posted above are just a tiny fraction of this occurrence. I am including this fact in my blog because, as a gardener, I want to remind my green-thumb followers that one small consolation is that abandoned Christmas trees can easily be turned into mulch (for free) at various facilities, and you can go on-line to find the center nearest you. As for me, I only mulch once a year, every December before the onset of winter, but if you mulch frequently or have a larger area in which you garden, you might find these centers meet your needs.

Making and Breaking New Years Resolutions (Plus the 2011 Posting Schedule for The Last Leaf Gardener)

As of this morning, January the Seventh, I am finally presenting my 2011 posting schedule in accordance with one —the only one — of my New Year's resolutions. It's not that I don't have resolutions to make. I have weight to lose, bills to pay, a temper to monitor, faith that feels watered down and needs building up, and the habit of swearing that needs to be stopped immediately.

Reflecting on The Twelfth Day of Christmas AND Camels Hitting the Streets of The City That Never Sleeps . . .

Today I put my figurines of the three kings (pictured above) on display and invited a friend to dinner, so we could pay our own homage to ring out the Twelfth day of Christmas, January the Sixth: the Gregorian Calendar's Day for Epiphany (also known as The Feast of The Three Kings as well as The Twelfth Day of Christmas). 

To honor this day, in New York City, The Feast of the Three Kings Parade, a parade which includes camels, will march down Fifth Avenue. This is an annual event that I have yet to attend, in my nearly thirty years of living in New York, although the idea of seeing camels march down Fifth Avenue, in East Harlem, is more intriguing than checking out Easter bonnets at the annual Easter Parade down more trendy parts of Fifth Avenue — another annual parade that I've missed. The fact is: I don't list attending parades as one of my favorite things to do; and, although I live just a half a block from the part of Central Park West which is the route for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, I have only seen part of the parade twice.

" . . . Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?" (Hmmmmmmmmm, that depends.)

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Many people probably asked this question in the singing of the Auld Lang Syne song as they rang in the New Year a few days ago. 

The answer? 

Sometimes. 

I recall walking up Central Park West sobbing over a broken heart from an unhealthy relationship with a man, when I was confronted by a woman walking her dogs, who cried out to me, "I hope that's not over a man!"

In Loving Memory of Aunt Grace Fitchie . . . (And One Reason I Like the Paper Card)

My blog, as you may know, is only a little over a year old and has only recently celebrated its anniversary. Today, like an occasional WNYC (NPR) program of The Brian Lehrer Show,  Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk and even Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, in which repeats of favorite shows are aired again, I am repeating part of an entry from February 2010. This is in honor of Grace Fitchie, my dear great aunt pictured in the photograph posted above, standing in the middle of the last row next to my grandmother, Clara May, who is at Grace's left hand side. 

Grace was born on this day, January the third, in the early 1900's, I blogged about her in February 2010. She was an influence on my knowing the value of sending cards, and one that she sent me, over forty years ago, is still an impetus for me to continue to persevere in the new year with my designs of cards that are about more than communication, invitations that preserve moments in time, and event program covers that enhance an occasion, in keeping with the mission I have laid out in my philosophy which I have mentioned in numerous occasions within this blog.

Star of Wonder: Who is "counter-cultural"? When IS Epiphany?

"Star of Wonder, Star of Night

Star with Royal Beauty Bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy perfect light"

My neighbor lives in a studio apartment on the top floor of a building that is a few doors west of me and her window (where she has a small indoor garden of succulents) faces south. It looks directly into a window where someone has hung a star.

The star, we once speculated, was hung in honor of the Epiphany, which is the twelfth day of Christmas, January the sixth, and often celebrated with the familiar hymn, We Three Kings (its chorus lyrics are posted at the top of this entry). However, today, January the second, this traditional Epiphany hymn will be sung in New York City Catholic churches, where masses will be offered and celebrated for the Feast of the Epiphany, because the bishops have decided to move this feast day up to the second Sunday after Christmas. In spite of this, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, insists it is the secular world that is the one rushing Christmas, when for me, it appears the church is rushing it too — by moving up holidays.