At least winter waited to arrive until February. January was cold and clear with hardly any precipitation of any kind. Not a single flake of snow until February 1.
As it got colder and stayed cold every night, the lake began to freeze. The visiting swans looked like they were hibernating. Open water remained for part of the lake for our entire cold spell, so they are still hanging around. They're so huge, they dwarf the Canadian geese.One of my favorite plants is Hellebore...here it is blooming in the snow. In winter, I need some color. Even though the snow is beautiful in many ways, it does tend to turn our world black and white. The big maple tree was lovely for the first day. The snow quickly fell off as every day managed to get above freezing. Inside, I'm getting started on my garden, so my kitchen table is pretty much fully planted. I traded my friend Lisa a bucket of honey for a big heat mat, so hopefully this year I'll get a head start on the garden.
