Summer's End...Part Two

Hold On To Green And Golden Light All Season Long

Just as the beauty of flowers, once picked and placed in a vase, will wither and die...so too, the green and golden hues of summertime. After all, if we enjoyed these suny treasures year-round perhaps we would stop noticing the beauty and it would become ordinary, dull, shining less bright, or even routine, to us. Precisely because it is fleeting, precious, and temporary, just like life itself, we appreciate it with fervour and immediacy and savor it's scent, vibrant colours, and presence.

I am always inspired by the beautiful poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" written in 1920 by Robert Frost:

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leafs a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

PHOTO: "Happy Daisies" by Carmen Zavislake

In "Summer's End: Part One" of my blog, I covered most of the simple and quick ways to keep the sparkling heat of Summertime present in your mind, home, and personal space. From choosing whimsical accessories that make you smile, to eating more fruit...there are some more ways to preserve the green and gold in the Winter months, beyond pressing flowers in between wax paper squished in the pages of the dictionary - make your own little piece of Eden by creating your own terrarium.

MUSIC & SOUND:

There are many great CDs and downloads you can find of nature sounds, be it waves on the shore, or the forest sounds with birds singing, brooks babbling, streams trickling, rain, thunderstorms, or even animals/insect sounds...it is a perfect way to recapture the warm mindset and place yourself back into the forest if yours is covered in snow.

Sonic Suggestions

Celtic Reverie by Solitudes feaures 12 lovely tracks
Insect Lullabies
Natural Sounds with Music: Summer Sounds by New World Music
New Age duo featuring Celtic fiddler Fionnuala Sherry and composer Rolf Loveland duo "The Secret Garden" formed in 1996. Their first album "Songs from a Secret Garden" to their most recent release "Just the Two of Us" you could pick any album and find it inspirational and soothing, all of them are beautiful and will surely put a warm smile on your face. White Stones, Dawn of a New Century, Once in a Red Moon, Earthsongs, Inside I'm Singing, Winter Poem, are their other albums.
Sam Cooke: Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 features 31 songs that will please every age and taste if you happen to be having people over
Beach Boys music is a no-fail and no-brainer for a nostalgic happy therapy
Bob Marley's "Legend" a classic
Buddy Holly

PLAYLIST: These are a collection of tunes that have summer in their title, or that are just so odd and fun they must be on the summer list like "Alley Oop"

Janis Joplin or Nina Simone's version of the song "Summertime"
Lovin' Spoonful "Summer In The City"
Mungo Jerry "In The Summertime"
The Surfaris "Wipe Out"
Nat King Cole's "Those Lazy Hazy Days of Summer"
Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, or Frank Sinatra's version of "On The Sunny Side of the Street"
Louis Armstrong "Tha Lucky Old Sun"
Van Morrison "High Summer"
Doors "Summer's Almost Gone"
Otis Redding "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"
Eddie Cochran "Summertime Blues"
The Kinks "Sunny Afternoon"
Peggy Lee, or Elvis Presley's version of "Fever"
Marth and the Vandellas "Heat Wave"
Ray Charles "In the Heat of the Night"
Frank Sinatra "Summer Wind"
Lighthouse "Sunny Days"
The Supremes "Automatically Sunshine"
Sly and the Family Stone "Hot Fun in the Summertime"
The Temptations "It's Summer"
Rude "Magic"
The Police "De, Do, Do, Do, De, Da, Da, Da"
Sam The Sham & The Pharoah "Wooley Bully"
The Hollywood Argyles "Alley Oop"

Don't be afraid to Do-It-Yourself, believe me if I can do it any one can, because I do not have a Green Thumb at all! This is simple and fun, you can keep your terrarium as a centre-piece on the dining room table, or in a sunny window, bathroom, kitchen, or your office.

PHOTO: "Light Through the Leaves" by Carmen Zavislake

DIY: You Can Make Your Own TERRARIUM:

Even if you are not a Green Thumb, it is not difficult, and this is a great way to keep green-ness in your space. There are even DIY kits with everything in them!

YOU NEED:

-A glass vessel, jar, fishbowl, or bell jar

-chopsticks or long spoon

-miniature figures (fairy, animal, Buddha, etc) of your choice to put inside your mini garden scene

-peat moss, or potting soil

-sand or fishtank gravel for drainage on bottom layer

-ferns, airplants, or

-Scottish moss from your local nursery or there is live moss you can purchase from places with kits

-tumbled stones, shells, fossils, glass pebbles, or small clay figurine to place in terrarium

LAYER ROCKS on the bottom, add some sand for drainage, then add soil, moss and arrange your top layer, voila!!!

Some terrariums are as simple as dirt in a mason jar with a tiny plant, make something wonderful you want to look at ALL WINTER LONG, so here are some ideas...