Getting through January

It just keeps raining. Yeah, it goes with the territory. January. Oregon. It is so dark we have to turn the light on in the kitchen to make lunch. But it does cheer me up a little to see this one, lone daffodil blooming in the kitchen window. These are days I miss Idaho winter days with their bright, blue skies and the sun sparkling on the snow, but I talked to my brother in Idaho this morning and he said it was actually kind of gray today and the snow was old and brown and dirty. That made our rain seem not so bad. And you can see beyond the daffodil that the grass out back is green. In Idaho, in January the grass is a dismal brown. January is a month to just be gotten through and it is almost over. I have gotten a lot accomplished this month. A lot of writing. Another article for Quilting Arts and my chapter for the Twelve by Twelve book. I have also finished two pieces for the "Bird's Eye View" show.

I get cabin fever in January and wish I were going somewhere. Ray and I drove out to the Farm and Ranch Store that I discovered in my search for a bootjack. I knew Ray would love it and he did. We wandered through the whole store and bought some seeds. It's still a bit early to plant nasturtium seeds, but they are waiting.  I think Ray is a little tired of my nasturtium fetish, but I still like to plant them in places where they can cascade over the sides of something. They are my summertime thing, but I like that you can just poke their big, wrinkly seeds right in the ground as soon as the ground starts to warm up a little.

My friends and I continue to walk, even in the rain. I think that really saves me during these winter months. Last winter Beth's ankle was injured and we didn't walk, but went to the gym instead. I really hated walking on a treadmill instead of out in the fresh air. I'm glad to be outside again. The pond is home to so many birds and the trees and bushes have their own kind of winter beauty.