Signs of Life

I really do read the blogs on my sidebar. I love experiencing the beauty that Cathryn makes in a climate not unlike my own on A Gardener in Progress. Same with the Nature Nut in Oregon. Flowers mystify me. My mothers garden overflows with pretty. I feel lucky if the weed whacker is working this week. So will you please forgive me for going a little ga-ga over this tiny purple viola? I feel so honored that what comes easily for others is gracing my attempt. Maybe violas just have pluck. Maybe it is because I toss her pretty sisters into my salads (my reasoning being that I can grow food but fail at flowers). Whatever, welcome to my garden! Please (really), make yourself at home!

Coffee and Chives. Not a good combination for the pallet but for an old woman who has been too long inside with the flu. Coffee has sounded nasty for the last five or so days. Thanks to over the counter meds, I have been able to function at school. There were the prayers of dear friends and fellow teachers. Just this morning coffee sounded good again. A good sign I think. I got out for the first time yesterday. I had to collect the gifts that to puppies left. Sort of like an Easter egg hunt without the joy. It is one way to get around and inspect the garden. Passing by the herb garden (which thankfully the puppies also pass by) I saw chives poking up. A refreshing sight! How can something that I see make me feel so much better?

In the Pacific North West we are just entering what is traditionally the four coldest weeks of the year. The last two week of January and the first two weeks of February will tempt my gardening spirit, but experience tells me that I need to wait to get dirty until mid February. On President Lincoln's birthday I'll celebrate by poking peas into the ground. This year I am also going to hide Fava beans in the dirt. The page I was reading assured me that when crocuses began to show it would be time to plant Favas. There are not crocuses in my yard, an oversight I hope to reverse next fall, but there are a few daffodils. They are showing. Is it a trick or can I plant those Favas?

Winter Camping My new cold frame looks like an old fashioned pup tent. Ray made it for me just before I got sick. It has been out for five days without me getting to take a close look. It is not right where I want it yet, but it is portable. The plastic sides will be snugged and tucked. I am so hungry for salad that does not come from a plastic costco box! I'm ready to get dirty (Mike Rowe would be happy, I'm sure). Soon enough I will be busy with new and daily chores. Surly there is value in being patient and waiting for the season. There is a time for everything under heaven, and the season of dark is a time to look for the light. Not just the light that draws the green herbs to come out from the hidden places in the soft soil. It is a time for my heart to look for the light of life.

Mark 6:30 and 31 tells of the apostles having a good ol time telling what they had done for the kingdom in the power given them by Y'shua. They had been so busy that there was not even any time to eat. Exciting times! It must have been tempting to jump right in and do more. But our Y'shua, who know what is best encouraged them to come away and rest. I hear that call while I look for a reason to start the slow food again. I envy bloggers that I read in Texas and California who garden all the year around. But the call, at least in the PNW, is to rest for a little while longer. Now for the power to not jump the gun.

More cold rain after yesterday's sun. Night comes quickly. Wind from the south. Weatherunderground.com is predicting that both the high and low for the next 24 hours will be 43. Humm, it is 34 F right now.