reflection

As the winter solstice approached earlier this week, I mentally composed a blog post, yet here it is, Christmas Eve and I’m just sitting down to write. December has been a time warp, bending to life’s whim and disregarding my preference for a calm and ordered season.

Nature is a balm, a lovely escape from the daily grind, a place to be in mind, body, and soul when all you have to do is step outside. Migrating birds are passing through, singing in the now-barren trees. I can’t help but look up, pause, and enjoy the chatter. The squirrels are active along the fences, dropping into the garden and scratching at the earth to bury their stash. Anna’s hummingbirds stay year-round and are chasing each other away from one of the feeders as I write this post.

I startled this little critter in the compost bin.

We had a few days of rain this week, clearing away the trapped valley smog and refreshing the air while providing moisture for the garden.

To my amazement, an unseasonable sunflower crop thrives even after a few days of frost. The plants are seven feet tall, with one promising to flower by Christmas. I’ve never grown sunflowers in winter and assumed the seeds dropped by the summer crop or planted by the squirrels would remain dormant till next spring. I’m always learning.

There are signs of life everywhere with the promise of a cheerful spring. I had naively been pulling up California poppies when they died back, but further reading advised cutting the plant back without disturbing the root system. I’m reaping the benefits of that advice with lacy green foliage throughout the front garden. My beloved hyacinth is sprouting, along with freesia and an unexpected single paperwhite Narcissus tazetta.

Our recent storm ended my leaf-raking for the year, which I will miss, believe it or not. That same storm invited weeds to sprout, and the violets are again trying to take over, so there will be plenty to keep me engaged.

I hope you have a lovely holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and all good things in the coming year.

A small gallery from two of my fairy miniature gardens:

The strangest thing happens when I first return home from a trip. It’s subtle. It doesn’t happen when I’m gone for just a day but if I’m gone a weekend or longer I notice.

If I lived with Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory he could probably sum it up in a sentence or two. In my unscientific mind it feels like my environment shifted. Does this happen to you?

It started at the airport. Mike pulled up to the curb, and the boys spilled out of the car. They didn’t look like the boys at the airport curb just a week before. They’d changed. I studied them closely when we were back in the car. How much could change in eight days? Yet it was there. Palpable. One week older, that much closer to manhood, tousled hair a fraction longer. Strange.

Back home the environment shifted too. The furniture hadn’t been moved, all the kitties were present and accounted for but time moved ahead by a week. I could feel and it smell it in the air.

In the garden, the changes were even more profound. Squash bugs took over the last pumpkin hanging. Pantyhose be damned! I’m glad I harvested the other three early. Tomatoes remain on the vine, but they’ve lost their rosy plumpness. Left unattended the basil flowered along with a few sweet peas, arriving late to the show.

A purple sweet pea…at last. Thanks for the seeds, Boomdee!

Pantyhose fail: Squash bugs, 1, Gardener, 0

Most of the sunflowers are bowing with weighty seeds. One newcomer bloomed in my absence. What a happy surprise. I planted a variety pack, but thought I’d seem them all. This one looks like a bright yellow pom-pom and stands over six feet tall.

Someone’s enjoying the sunflower seeds

My newest sunflower

Another subtle shift happened while I was away: a shift of mind. Rather then trying to break bad habits, I’m focusing on establishing better ones. I’m heading to bed earlier and reading more. I’m rethinking my blog, exploring new ideas and realizing that a vacation is not only time away but a break from doing the same thing.

The trip itself was a treat beyond measure. I got to spend time with my dearest friend, Boomdee, her delightful cousin, another blogger and a woman I’ve never met. We walked, talked, laughed, shopped and carried on like teenagers. It was good for my heart and my soul.