We put away all of our Christmas decorations this weekend and tossed the pretty tree decorating our lawn. Between the un-decorating and the frost damage from November, the garden is looking mighty bare.

Then this happened.

I potted a few plants in early fall, but kept forgetting to water them because, frankly it should be raining this time of year. (It’s not). I keep sweeping up the dirt the squirrels toss out of the planter, casting dirt on the steps. In spite of all that, nature persevered and produced two gorgeous Icelandic poppies. They’re a bright spot in my other wise dreary garden.

While parts of the country are suffering record low temps, we’ve had the opposite. Record-breaking warm days, preceded by a week of frost in late fall and now we’ve broken the record for driest year since the 1800’s.

How dry?

According to our local paper, the San Jose Mercury News:

Records are being broken all over the state, according to the National Weather Service. San Jose has only received 3.8 inches since January 2013, well short of its 14-inch average. Oakland is even drier — 3.39 inches this year, compared with its 22.8-inch average. The last time it was this dry in San Francisco was in 1917, with 9 inches. This year, the city has had less than 6 inches.

The state’s official rain year will end on June 30 and a good storm or two in January or February could bring back a touch of winter green.

I sure hope so. Perhaps I should wash the car, paint the house, and plan a picnic to see if Murphy’s Law kicks in and brings us an honest to goodness downpour.

Thanks so much for all the great Little Free Library love. The comments, shares and book offers made my heart sing. I have much more to share, and will do so later this week.