Montreal Home Canning...

When it's cold and crappy outside, it can be pretty tempting to shop online instead of actually going outside of the house for supplies (and some air). You can usually find 100 times more choices than your local vendor carries, for cheaper, and they drop it off at your house...

Thankfully, some folks still make it outside once in a while, and places like Montreal Home Canning (not sure if that's their actual name or just what the sign says) can continue to exist. Walking into that shop is like traveling back in time... Back to when people canned, it seems, just about anything you could possibly think of. Most of the jars/cans/containers on their walls are for decoration, "our own little museum" as the owner says, but they were all sold there at one time or another. Now they sell slightly more contemporary fare, like cosmetics jars and medecine bottles. Most of their business is still good old mason jars, though...

Relaxing on Valentine's...

Are you really a real florist if you don't work on Valentine's Day?

Well, after years of sleepless nights and stressed-out days in February, I get to do nothing! Actually, I'll be studying all day at the library, which now that I think of it seems like the exact opposite of Valentine's in the shop... Still, a small part of me will miss the rush and the atmosphere, so I did a little tour to see what others were doing... Studio Choo, always a favorite, is proposing these...

Autumn gleaning...

Ah!

The things you can find in the city...

Magnolia branches, blue juniper (with berries!), euphorbia, rosehips, and a few books, too.

Can't wait for damn winter to be over...

~abundance~

"Abundance is not something we acquire.

It is something we tune into."

(Dr W. Dyer)

The bower...

And we humans think we're so special...

Watch this now!

The Australian bowerbird decorates his house (this is definitely something other than a nest) with flower blooms, beetle wings, acorns...

And David Attenborough has to have the sexiest voice I've ever heard...

Thanks to Resurrection Fern for always posting the most interesting little things...

Pink and orange in the snow...

Finally, pictures that don't date from six months ago. The snow and pot-bellied stove can attest to that...

Paperwhite jam...

Some paperwhites I started a few months back... I eventually separated them all and put them in individual containers, but I snapped these just before I ripped them apart. Can anything look more alive than this? Just looking at these pictures helps me get through the winter...

I wish I could've let them bloom like this...