A little something to treat the winter blues

No, you haven't been mis-directed to an old page of my journal. It really is January 21st. It snowed today and Austin has spent the day getting dressed in layers and layers of snow pants, sweats, coats, hats and gloves only to be back in the house dripping wet in a matter of minutes wanting to get undressed. Within 15 minutes he was wanting to go back outside and was totally amazed that I didn't have every stitch of clothes he'd just stripped out of totally dry and at the ready to go another round. Kids don't change one iota from one generation to the next!

Anyway, the day has caused me to miss my flowers and green grass. January always finds me trying to remember how pretty the gardens were in the summer. The seed and plant catalogs are arriving and I'm planning and replanning next years forays into the dirt. The smell of dirt is one of my favorite smells. Dirt caked under my fingernails and scratches all over my hands make me so happy. It seems like I just get everything planted and mulched and suddenly it's the first frost of the year (although, thankfully, this year's was quite late), and all the hard work seem to have been for naught. For this reason, I try to take a lot of pictures of my flowers while they're bright and full of life. It would probably be weird for some people if they knew the amount of time I spend looking at those pictures. Oh well, lock me up if you think it should be done, but I savor the sights. So, right here, in the middle of winter (ok, ok, so it's not technically the middle of winter), I bring you a little eye candy. Take a little break from the snow and the cold and remember how lovely summer was.

The picture above was taken last spring while the azaelas and dogwood  tree were blooming. This is the first of the color show in my back yard and I cherish it every year.

Below are just various favorites:

I'm ok now.