On this last eve of January the wind is blow, blow, blowing my house down – a couple of shingles anyway. I notice a few of the neighbor’s have been ripped off, too, and are lying in our driveway. At least it is only shingles for right now. “Can you turn up the music? Boy, this wine tastes good.” The wind is cold, not quite as cold as the stretch of sub-zero days not long ago, but cold and getting colder. Was it just last evening we had the windows open to air the house? Daytime temperatures reached 60°? Mojo’s paws were dipped in mud and painting the kitchen floor and wait, oh yes, the living room rug as well. I was dreaming of gardening. I was chanting order seeds, order seeds, order seeds. This is my observation for January 2013: 0° to 60° in two days flat.

I noticed my new hellebore leaves are turning an icky black. They were “evergreen.” Does this mean they are dying? Wait, so are the other hellebore leaves from last year. Maybe they are okay. My baby arborvitae is browning at the bottom. Is it going to die? Wait, my other arborvitae always brown a little at the bottom. On and on it goes with me. How can anything survive this?! The scorching wind burning the barren ground, the speedometer temperatures, the sleet, the damp, the freezing floods, the heavy loads of snow? I realize as much as I really want to be in the southern hemisphere right now, spending a full winter here in north country makes spring seem downright miraculous. I really can’t wait for that miracle to happen.