Cold and more on bananas

What a COLD COLD COLD last few days it's been. BRR!! We've got a heat wave today... a balmy 27-degrees and it's sunny! Woo Hoo!! We received our first snow last Thursday night/Friday morning (November 30 / December 1), but after we had a nice thick layer of freezing rain. We didn't receive too much snow (probably only 3-4 inches), but with the ice it seemed a lot worse. The kids and Laurie were home from school all day Friday (We didn't even leave the house that day). The kids did make it outside to play, though... they were ready to go out about 6 am, but we made them wait until a little later.

The REAL cold didn't start arriving until after the freezing rain and snow... got down to almost 0 a couple of nights over the past week. I was still able to work outside some this week... still a few things to do for customers even with the snow. However, it did get a little difficult on Thursday this past week, and I only lasted until late morning... it just got too cold for me and I came home for the rest of the day. I was able to be a little more productive on Friday, clearing several fallen limbs for one of my customers from the weekend before.

Luckily I got all of my winter arrangements done a week ago before the REAL cold hit. I didn't have too many to do, though... here's a sampling:

This is at a property management office in Normal.

This is at the front of a house at Lake Bloomington. There are three large containers at the back of the house, but I arranged them right before the ice and snow and you can't see them now :( Hopefully it will warm up enough over the next few days that I'll be able to take pictures of them.

This is a house in Bloomington that I only do seasonal arrangements on her front porch. She is the mother of one of my weekly customers. These didn't turn out exactly like I had planned... I didn't buy enough greens for them, but I didn't want to make another trip to the garden center because it was almost dark. I'll probably go back this next week and add more greens to them and some more color. It would look a lot better if there were greens around the window, too, but...

I know... this isn't a winter arrangement... but it's one of our "winter tropical corners" in our house :) Just a few of the many tropical plants that winter inside November - March. Thankfully... Laurie doesn't mind all of them (I think about 30 this year). So far they are all doing well.

I had a little problem with the bananas "sleeping" in the basement, but after a little work removing all of the remaining dirt on the rhizomes of each banana, I think they're ok now. A couple of weeks ago the high humidity we were experiencing wasn't allowing them to dry out enough in the basement and the rhizomes were starting to soften a little. A few hours of work, a dehumidifier and a fan did a lot for them. I lost a few pups, but I still have more than enough for next summer. Last winter I was able to keep them in plastic bags, but this winter probably not.

Here they are again, out of the plastic bags... it's amazing to me how God created plants like this (and remember... bananas are PLANTS not trees!!!) The paper bags have cannas and upright elephant ears in them. The pots hold banana plants, also... these are smaller varieties compared to the larger ones I had at the front and side of our house. I still have two varieties going strong in our family room and living room. I have to watch them carefully, though and give very good care to them.

Yes... I love my bananas!!!!

Ok... enough of this... I need to finish my Christmas list and send it off to those who need it.