Which Witch-hazel?

Posted on January 8, 2026 by RegenAxe

When we were in the garden, we came upon the pictured witch-hazel. Its blossoms were both colorful and fresh. We have only had a brief thaw this week, but that was enough for these flowers to bloom. Their color is especially vibrant as seen here. The plant is used medicinally as an astringent. Various brands are marketed and sold for skin care typically in acne treatment. Witch-hazel gets its name for its use in dowsing. A historical practice of using forked witch-hazel branches as “dowsing rods” or “witching sticks” to find underground water.

Garden Afterglow

Posted on January 7, 2026 by RegenAxe

Busy day! I bought a new laptop. Replacing the previous ancient one. It might have been eight years old. Like that one, I got the new one at Micro Center, a warehouse for computer equipment also-known-as my happy place. I purchased a refurbished HP, with 32M of RAM, 1T solid-state disk drive and at 4lbs it is pretty light and still clean of bloatware. This completes the second of my three-step computer modernization program. Last year I did the iPhone, today was the laptop, next up is the desktop. I had been considering using the Micro Center’s porting service, but Microsoft did everything I had wanted done for free. I spent most of the rest of the day setting up the new machine. Meanwhile, Anne got our new high-tech birdfeeder up and running. We set it up in the front yard for better Wi-Fi. We only had the remnants of last year’s bird seed, so tomorrow after gyro we’ll have to buy some more. Later in the afternoon, we went to the gardens and got some exercise. Most of the Garden Glow decorations are still up and we used them to pose for pics and sent them to the kids.