The Sun Came Out.

And it's still shining. Not a cloud in the clear blue sky. It's amazing what a little sunlight will do for the soul. It's 41 degrees.

The perennial bed from the front walk. In a couple months, new plants will be going in from the wintersown containers that will go out on Friday/Saturday.



Last year's plants are still blooming. This one is Mountain Bluet.



By the front walk, the 25cent heucheras and dusty millers have created a nice combo.



In the basement, 260 quart/six inch pansies are drying out. I spent a grand total of $2.89. Sales tax is 8%. You do the math. These will be my containers for some of the annuals to be sown in April. They needed to leave the garden center. My boss made me a deal I couldn't refuse.



Will have to spend a few minutes after work picking up more firewood for the night. The cloner will be cleaned and refilled. More firewood will be split on Monday and Tuesday before work. Rain is expected for the later part of the week. Tonight, more below freezing temperatures. December has been colder than normal. Wetter too.

Awesome.

The 10-day forecast.



It's 50 degrees, sunny, and clear.



9:34am - Goodbye Ivy.



Hello Shastas.



Thundercloud Plum. Got my fingers crossed.

Sunday

It's Sunday and I have the day off. All week I had planned to work on the kitchen today, hopefully getting the beadboard installed on the wall behind the kitchen sink and around the window. But the sun is peeking out every now and again making it very difficult to think about staying inside. So much to do in the perennial bed. I'm ready to cut back lots of plants and move some things around. The ground is a bit too wet. Maybe tomorrow evening.



It doesn't help that the tea olives are in bloom filling the yard with their fragrance.



Good thing I've already started scraping paint and caulk from where the old cabinets were.



12:00pm - all the large holes are patched with drywall compound. All the caulk has been scraped free. Waiting for this coat to dry. Will being sanding this afternoon. Expecting to take days to get the walls smooth enough to paint. It will not be perfect, but it will be close.

Changes

Every morning, I wake up to find the sun is in a different spot on the horizon than it was the day before. In the evenings, I watch the sun set from my dining room window. It's hardly noticeable from day to day, but over the course of a week, or a month, big changes can be seen. That shift indicates that summer is on its way. In late June, the sun will start its journey back to the horizon. In the meantime, our plants will grow, some will set seed, cool weather plants will suffer under the heat of the day, and I'll get used to complaining about the heat rather than the cold.

On December 29, 2008, after a really long spell of wet, cloudy days, I took this picture.



This morning, I took another from roughly the same spot.



You can see how the sun has moved towards the east. It's a noticeable change in just over a month. While we go about our daily business, the world around is always changing. The trees are starting to show their buds. Spring bulbs are poking their first leaves out of the cold dirt. Perennials are waking up and multiplying beneath layers of leaves out in the garden. Baby birds are getting their first real feathers. And the cycles that keep our gardens beautiful continue with no help from us.

This is my first year trying to document the changes through pictures as they happen. Every Sunday I take a photo of the perennial bed from the same spot in the street. I try to photograph all the new growth on different plants. The camera records the date and time of each photo. It's a great way to keep a record without having to keep records. But most importantly, in the cold dead of winter, I'll be able to look back at all these pictures and remember, only a few more weeks, and we'll see some real changes again.

4:26pm - Another 70 degree day. I've had the windows open since 11am. The house is warm and the birds are chirping. I got the hammock hung between two HUGE trees out back. Chopped some more firewood for the next cold spell. And the basement is clean, clean, clean. I got all my planting and potting stuff moved to one corner. The "work" part almost looks like a shop again except for the wood heater. Oh, did I mention I got the project I bid on? I'll spend the rest of the week with my hands in the dirt. Starting on Monday the 16th, I'll be inside for 6 weeks watching spring through the tiny basement windows.