I am intrigued by the desire to build vacation places where conditions are considered unmelcoming. Is this, by necessity, the wave of the future?

Have you seen the new Bond film? (me neither) They blow up the ESO hotel.  The ESO is primarily used to house scientists working at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.  Conditions there are extreme.  It sits on top of a mountain in a desert (zero humidity) with average wind speeds of 25mph (40KM/hr) and temperature ranges from about 14F to 80F in a single day (-10C to 24C), oh and one last thing…regular earthquakes of 8.5 on the Richter scale.  To keep guests happy they built a steep tropical garden inside the 115 ft-wide transparent dome. This circular courtyard, decorated with palm trees and cactus plants, runs down to a 30ft swimming pool.  It is beautiful.

Then there is the Hotel Aire de Bardenas at the southernmost part of Navarre (Spain). The site for the four-star hotel is a wheat field, near a spectacular natural park with semi-desert landscape and again, lots of wind and too much sun.

Those wooden bales are used locally to transport the harvest, but have been re purposed as windbreaks.

I love the creative ingenuity that has gone into these and I love that the architecture was strongly lead by the nature of the landscape and capturing the views, but am not sure I want to go for a stay.  What do you think?

When I lived in London, my flat was not too far from a store that I always found inspiring.  R.K. Alliston is inspiring for its amazing collection of very British home and mostly garden products.  Also, there are really great window displays and a great woman behind the whole thing.  R.K. Alliston ships worldwide, so you could definately get some Christmas goodies.    Here are some of my favorites.

Trug Walking Stick,  Soap on Pole, Cloche Candle Holders , Handmade Indian Light

Kerry at Landart studio has an auction going on for a beautiful driftwood sculpture.  It is an interesting piece of two intertwined cedar trees that would be very nice in a large garden.  It was found near Vancouver Island and it sounds like it will be displayed during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  If you are interested in buying it you have to put in a bid at the Landart Design website.

In recognition of the holiday at hand, I am reading a very interesting little e-book that I stumbled upon. Squanto’s Garden is filling my head with ideas about Three sisters companion planting.  Very interesting and free.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Zuni Waffle Garden, Wampanoag Garden, and Hidatsa Garden

Full Diclosure: I think the little book is actually a marketing tool for protogrow…but it is still worth checking out.

I am really into sticks and twigs this time of year.  Any way that I can use them to dress up and cozy up the inside the better.   I saw this great idea for using twigs at a German site called Das-Rote-Paket.  Do you think if I used Corkscrew Hazel (Corylus avellana “Contorta”)  branches it would look like a gazelle?

Flicker image.  peikonpahkin- Corkscrew Hazel (corylus avellane “contorta”)

Its raining outside. Make that pouring.  If it were still as cold as it was two days ago, it would be about 6 feet deep. Which has me thinking about shoveling.  I have seen many beautiful walkways ruined with salts and in my own case, my front porch is ipe wood, which I fear to damage with a shovel.  These Heat Trak stair mats will to do the trick.  And they operate for a mere $0.15 an hour.