Surprise!

Now that the holidays are past, the leftovers gone, and the lights and decorations down, I stood looking outside the garden windows and was sort of shocked to see that it was still winter.

The holidays always mess with my sense of time, directing attention from outside to in. From Thanksgiving to New Years, it's all a blur. But this year was even worse what with finding the Cottage Garden forum and spending untold hours looking at lovely gardens, interesting plants, visiting blogs and chatting with fellow gardeners about bee and garden projects. Outside never seemed to reach me because my head was filled with spring plans. Then, a couple days ago, I came up for air, took stock and looked around. Whoa! There I was: smack dab in winter. Surprise! With all that cold and wind and snow -- what to do? What to do?

Just one thing, my friends. Time to head for the basement!

Thanks to CG (Cottage Garden) friends, I'll have even more seeds to start than previous years. After all, there is that huge ring garden to fill with bee forage plants, bushes and small trees. There are seed germinators to make ready, trays to tidy, pots to fill, lights to adjust. I also feel compelled to try and build a 'cloning' tray so I can root cuttings from woody plants (I truly blame this last on CG chatter - those folks are such a bad influence! *grin*).

Anyway, I thought I post a picture of a bright winter day on this entry so I can remember what it's like outside right now. Once I head downstairs to the basement, my sense of season will destabilize, become confused, and desert me again. From now until the daffs bloom I'll live in that half-trance mode of two worlds: spring - and waiting-for-spring. ;-)