the garden

The edge of yet another snow storm coming our way. It is the first of 3 forecast for this week.

 

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sometimes it looks like Mother Nature scribbles, too

 

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Things are beginning to emerge in the garden. The snow is just 2 feet deep now.

 

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Snow

The forecasters were both right and wrong:
it did snow.
We woke yesterday morning to discover
8" of pristine powdery crystals
but no blizzardy winds came through.

We waited and waited for the convicts* to show up
but they never came.

What?! "Convicts??" you ask...
Not to worry.
Our town's sheriff's department enlists a crew
of able bodied men serving time in the county jail
to shovel snow for citizens on disability, and
lucky for us
we share a driveway
a very loooonnng, steep driveway
with a woman who qualifies.
We are thrilled when the guys in orange jumpsuits show up
and my sister always takes some sort of goodies out to them.
It's rare when it isn't something she baked herself.
On the rare occasion we aren't looking to share
her cakes or cookies
she'll take some chocolate out to them.
We are never without plenty of chocolate to share.

Usually they appear soon after the snow stops.
But not yesterday...
so, the young man who lives in one house over
who also shares the driveway
pulled out his almost-always-broken snowblower
and did the job late in the day.

I'm sure the boys in orange jumps suits
and their guards
will be disappointed when they finally
get to our neighborhood today...

P.S. Yes, that is a pink bench underneath the snow.
Actually, it's thick oak strips were painted
pink and yellow by its original owner.
My sister spied it at a junk shop many, many years ago
and fell in love with it.
It was very old back then.
It's made of thick oak strips and wrought iron.
The neighbor's cat likes to sleep on it
when it is warmed by the sun.
It's begun listing to one side...
i'll be very sad when it finally
collapses.

*my sister thinks it's rude of me
to call them convicts...
but they are, aren't they?

So far...

the snow is very light and not as deep
as forecast...but...
we have a whole night to get through
before it is blown away by the
Big Winds on its heels.

In the meantime
these paperwhites smell lovely

Fresh fruit & flowers

It is very cold outside
and will
they say
turn even colder.
And there is a
Winter Storm Warning.
It is to begin gently tomorrow
and end as a blizzard on Friday.

We are as prepared as we can be
i've pulled out my plumpest down comforter
and we still have
plenty of chocolate leftover from Christmas
and milk, eggs, bread and cheese
fixin's for soup and
to reward ourselves after shoveling snow
we could make lemon mousse
or even a little sparkling lemonade
while we are still hot and sweaty.

Because, in the cold front room
where all the potted plants too tender for our outdoor climate
spend the winter
we have two Meyer lemon trees.

We've already harvested 5 or 6 from this one

while the other has clearly adopted a different time zone
and is once again covered in flowers
which fill the room with their sweet fragrance

i do love winter
and living in a house with large
south facing windows.

3 for Lynette

It is my lovely niece's birthday
and for her
i offer up 3 new-to-my-garden favorites.
Actually
it's 3 photos of 2 "double click" cosmos.

The first blooms on 'Snow Puff'
don't look anything like the blooms that

open a couple of weeks later:

i planted 'Cranberries'
the other double click cosmos
by the alcove where i sit to have breakfast

Happy Birthday, Dear Lynette!
If we lived closer
i'd bring you a bouquet of the real things!

It was tea time

i was walking to the kitchen when
the light in the windows caught my eye.

The kettle could wait a few minutes
while i went outside
stood in the garden
and looked up, and all around
at the feathery sky

Where am i?

Have i been transported
to another land?
Perhaps southern England
or northern France.

It is very mild in these parts.
As a British friend says,
"We're having a proper English winter."

At Greenwood last weekend
there were snowdrops!

wintersweet was in flower
and filling the soft breeze with its heady perfume



(Don't let those diminutive
blooms fool you. Their perfume fills the air!)
However
it usually doesn't flower around here
until March.

And, then...
at home
in the chilly front room
where potted plants spend the winter
a viola!

Change

Sunshine!
On south facing slopes, patches of earth are appearing.
The once deep blanket of snow is wearing thin, full of holes.
Another inch disappears each time i turn my back.

Yes, we may yet have more snow fall.
But the sun traces a higher arc in the sky, each day.
The empty seed pods of iris, black eyed Susans, and coneflower have sprouted out of the sparkling
counterpane.
The melting has begun.