Saturday, December 28, 2013

Picture of the Day

 
As the year winds down, I have this picture of one of my plants being cared for by a friend.

Desert rose, adenium obesum

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Cold and Sunlight


It is cold.  Really cold.  The Winter Solstice has passed and the shortest day of the year.  By the end of the year, the length of sunlight will have grown four minutes longer.  The pendulum is beginning to swing the other way.  It can never come too soon.

My grandmother would say,

"As the day grows longer,
the cold grows bolder."

Rhyming was obviously not her strong suit.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Rosemary

 
 
Of the several plants I brought along to comfort me in my forced rehabilitation one is rosemary. This summer I planted it in a cement block. It thrived and grew bushy. The root was fairly self contained.  When my son yanked it out and replanted it in this pot for the winter, it didn't miss a beat.
 
Last night it played a prominent role in a supper of roasted Red Gold potatoes (from the family garden) and chicken with rosemary.  It brought a savory taste of summer to our table and kept evil spirit from our midst in this dead of winter.
 
The light of day has grown very short.  It is no great feat to catch the sunrise.  The sun has been setting at 4:13 for the last few days here signaling the upcoming shortest day of the year.   Soon the pendulum of light versus darkness will begin its swing toward spring.  I have it on good authority that the spring 2014 garden catalogues have begun to arrive.

Let the planning begin!

With our more than 7 degree below normal temperatures in December and record snow for the month, spring cannot come too soon.