THE BARN WHEN WE STARTED

February 17, 2015January 19, 2015 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

I have to admit I wince, looking back.

The deck ran to the master bedroom. It was the only route to the loft.

The catwalk also created ice dams that leaked into the kitchen.

AFRICAN VIOLET

February 14, 2015January 19, 2015 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Can’t see an African violet in bloom without thinking of the calm reading room at the Lilly Library in Bloomington, Indiana. You had to be buzzed in from the museum displays, and the difference in air pressure was noticeable. And there, in the midst of some of the rarest books and broadsides ever printed, a librarian kept potted violets on the thick sills of its windows.

At the time, I was reading a lot of Samuel Johnson in the original. Pinpricks, coffee stains, and all.

BIRTHDAY ORIGAMI

February 10, 2015January 19, 2015 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Table decorations carry the theme of black, white, and red all over, in honor of a newspaperman's advancing age. — Table decorations carry the theme of black, white, and red all over, in honor of a newspaperman’s advancing age.

HOW LONG WILL THEY GO?

February 7, 2015January 19, 2015 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

They may be pretty as a grate over the window, but big icicles do come down with a crash. Day or night, it's usually pretty scary. — They may be pretty as a grate over the window, but big icicles do come down with a crash. Day or night, it’s usually pretty scary.

HALFWAY THROUGH WINTER

February 3, 2015January 19, 2015 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 8 Comments

It's a way of life. — It’s a way of life.

AUXILIARY HEAT

January 31, 2015December 3, 2014 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

An electric radiator is a comforting sight in some of the chillier corners of the house.

THROUGH THE YARD

January 27, 2015December 3, 2014 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The cross-country skis get a workout even in an urban side yard. Here's part of my trail. — The cross-country skis get a workout even in an urban side yard. Here’s part of my trail.

BRACED FOR NEW ENGLAND WINTER

January 24, 2015December 3, 2014 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

A side-street dwelling in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, merges traditional style and solar energy as it's hunkered down for deep winter. — A side-street dwelling in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, merges traditional style and solar energy as it’s hunkered down for deep winter.

It's tucked right into a tidy neighborhood. — It’s tucked right into a tidy neighborhood.

ICY LANTERN

January 20, 2015December 3, 2014 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Sunlight melts snow on the roof even on the coldest of days. The drips remelt where they may.

LADY PEPPERELL’S CORNER

January 18, 2015December 3, 2014 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The mansion has four chimneys, rather than one, plus a porch looking toward the river.

This “dower house,” a Georgian gem built in 1760 by the newly-widowed Lady Mary Hirst Pepperell, sits at a sharp turn in the road a mile from Pepperell Cove in Kittery, Maine. Through her Bostonian roots and marriage, she was one of the richest, most powerful women in New England.

The mansion faces a Congregational church built in 1732, the oldest house of worship still in use in Maine.