Finishing Up January

We are not the sunshine state. That honor goes to Florida. But the sun does shine at least seventy-five percent of the time here in New Mexico. This is all to say that I well know that we have NOTHING AT ALL to complain about in winter, and wish safety to all of you caught in the big winter storm.

I am merely noting that we have had an unusual number of overcast days this year. In a high desert climate, that is somewhat good news, because we are ever on the lookout for a little more moisture to stave off drought.

But winter hangs heavy on our little brown house, with many weeks yet before the ivy springs to life again almost overnight. Just a dusting of snow on a grey January day feels somehow bleaker than a lovely carpet of white. 

But indoors we should all be amused by the record winning height of my amaryllis which is finally in bloom! Not enough sun (this is eastern exposure) and probably not enough plant food (as in none).

But oh how cheery an outcome for a person with no green thumb!

My little indoor plant jungle has to hang in there mostly on its own until patio time arrives again.

A second bulb finally has a bloom in bud as well, but it was not a good score of two out of seven!

Desolate as it may be at times, the cold weather season is not without beauty, especially in the countryside, as Gladys Tabor so well expressed in her January chapter of The Book of Stillmeadow:

". . . Under the hard and bitter rind of winter, there is much loveliness. The white mystery of snow is a splendid thing, all the landscape is muted to deep silver laced with blue shadows. The meadow is a sea of pearl with scattered dark masts of briar riding the foam. The apple orchards pattern the sky with dry-point precision The cool clean smell of snow is in the air, a special fragrance known only to winter country.

The sounds are fine too. . . The laughter of children making snowmen, . . . The crackle of applewood in the fireplace. The feathery sound of snow shifting from the pine branches in the woods.

. . . Yes, there is much to be said for winter. If one looks directly for its beauty."

Yes, even if one has to search within the leaves of a good book in order to find it on some bitter wind-swept day!

I hope you are all wrapped up in whatever comforts you as we close the cover on January.

Jacqueline