I wish you a Merry Christmas!

 I wish you, your families and beloved ones

a Merry Christmas!

 

I want this warm family holiday to please you, despite the quarantine and restrictions. I wish that next Christmas we all celebrate joyfully and worry-free.

Christmas Decorations

 

Christmas 2020 is approaching. Many of us have a Christmas tree (or buy it) and love to decorate it. I have an artificial tree and old ornaments - from my childhood - and some new ones. These are globs, figurines of animals and children and, of course, figurines of Father Frost (Santa Claus), Snow Girl and Snowman.
Here are New Year decorations with a new design. I think there is always something old about any new design. Houses, snow-covered Christmas trees, Santa Claus, birches, balalaika, children ... 

 

Perhaps 100 years ago, no one could have imagined a figurine of a cow (or calf ?) or something remotely resembling a Christmas tree with lights as ornament :-) Maybe you have new ornaments like these dancers,  mittens, nutcracker, hare made of wool, glass, wood, multi-colored fabric.

 

 

 

 

The last ornament is a sad Santa Claus in a mask, only his sad eyes and raised in surprise eyebrows are visible.

He seems to say: 

I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year without "corona", but take care of yourself and your beloved ones.

 

Source:internet

Winter Planning

Winter is the best time to plan a garden landscape. This year gardening was over, the crop was harvested, the lawn was mowed before winter coming.  

There are several aspects to consider when planning: the place where the main house is located;
where will the greenhouse be;
where will the flower beds be;
what paths will lead to the main house, to the greenhouse, to the vegetable beds, to the summer kitchen, and where there will be a special path so that I can walk and enjoy the flowers :-)

 

 

(internet example)

I'm making a list of works so I know for sure what I have to buy  to create a landscape. I also need a large composter, as there is a lot of grass, weeds, tops and so on on the new plot.

 

(internet example)

I think the amount of plants grown last summer in my nursery will not be enough. Therefore, maybe I will transplant ornamental shrubs and berry bushes from the old garden to this new one.

 (internet example)

And, of course, the main decision I have to make is which part of the garden will be a lawn and which part will be covered with paving slabs and/or gravel. 

Considering that it is not so easy to mow large areas and it takes a lot of time, I will probably focus on the decision to make the lawn no more than half of the garden area.

 (internet example)

I have enough time for plans and changes, so I will read and look for interesting ones that require low-maintenance. I want to do landscape project myself, but any of your ideas are welcome.  Thanks!

Hilaire Bals. Paintings

 

Today I want to introduce you, my friends, to an artist from Belgium.

 

Hilaire Bals was born in 1940. He began his creative career as a student at the Academy of Sint-Niklaas near the city of Ghent, Belgium. 

 

After training, he took up still life, animals, birds and paintings with symbolism.

In the H. Bals' works, still lifes are the most popular. They often contain references to classical antiquity. 

 

H. Bals sometimes places his still life on an imaginary background, creating an atmosphere, sometimes he paints brightly colored fruit, flowers.

 

 

 

 

The artist seeks not only to obtain a photographic reproduction using paints. He likes to put 17th century glass next to weathered bricks. On other occasions, he places Chinese pottery on a rough Flemish table. Composition, light, color and rhythm are important in Hilaire Bals' painting.

 

 

 

I recently learned the works of this interesting artist and I liked some of his paintings. Which ones do you like?

 

 

November Garden 2020

It's November, dark and cold month. The days are short, I don't particularly like early darkness, at 5 pm a dark evening begins. I learned about the climate change and hope this winter won't be too cold and snowy.   

Rosehip bushes are with the last leaves and beautiful red fruits.

The fruits of the rosehip bush differ in their shape and color. I'm not sure about the varieties of these bushes. The colors and shapes of flowers also vary.

I also love small white berries of  Symphoricarpus, or snowberry bush. There is only one adult snowberry bush in my garden.You may remember that I showed you my summer nursery where I grew young plants for the new garden. So I have 2 young Symphoricarpus planted in the soil, hopefully they winter well. I covered all young plantings with dry maple leaves and plastic.

Plants in the autumn sun:

Cornus

Rosehip

Azalea

Potentilla

 

 Thuja

 

Pine-niwaki

What is your garden in November?

Dr Poehl and Sons' Pharmacy

Today I would like to suggest you, my friends, another virtual  tour, since real travel is not yet available. I want to tell you about the old famous pharmacy in Saint petersburg.

                                             

  The Dr. Poehl's pharmacy

The owner of the pharmacy was Prof. Dr. A. Poehl (1850-1908), a well-known pharmacist at that time, supplier of the Court of His Imperial Majesty. The drugs he developed are still in use.

Prof. Dr. A. Poehl (1850-1908)

Since 1873, the young master of pharmacy Alexander Poehl began to run the pharmacy laboratory. This man, as well as his sons turned out to be not only a talented scientist, but also a capable businessman.

prof. Poehl's pharmacy emblem

Ora et Labora (Pray and Work)

Prof Poehl and sons' laboratory

A. Poehl inherited a pharmacy from his father in 1875. The Poehl's pharmacy was a whole complex that included a production pharmacy, a research laboratory, a pharmaceutical factory (which operated until 1927), warehouses.

Inside of the pharmacy

A. Poehl's scientific works were devoted to the problems of social hygiene. In general, only for 25 years of the laboratory's work, 121 publications on hygiene, forensic and physiological chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry have been published.

After the revolution, since 1922, Poehl's once famous pharmacy eventually became just a communal one. Later, the plant was closed. But even in the 1970s and 80s. citizens continued to come from all over the city "to Poehl's" for medicines.

The restoration was in 1983, then The Domestic Pharmacy History Museum was opened in the Poehl's pharmacy.  

Do you go to any pharmacy? Does it look old or not? Have you been to any medical museum?