This morning we awoke to our first below freezing daytime temperature this season.
Now, at 10 o'clock, with brilliant sunshine and no wind, it has warmed to 40F,
however we are in for a week of very chilly temps.
Winter has arrived at last in the southeast.
Still no snow in the forecast though. I do hope we will at least have one snowstorm
with a few inches on the ground - fun for the children, garden will look glorious for a
day or so, and plenty of photo ops for those of us who lug our cameras everywhere.
Nothing pretty to cut in the garden at this time of year.
My flowers are one of the bouquets from our recent family
wedding. I hope perhaps it will dry and I can continue to
display it and recall that exciting, wonderful day.
The bride and groom are cruising the Caribbean right now,
having a wonderful time I'm sure.
Speaking of the garden, yesterday we spent several hours in cool sunny conditions -
quite invigorating I must say - removing most of the outdoor decorations. Have left the
fairy lights on the side arbor and gate, pleasant to view on a cold dark night when
arriving home. I removed all the decorative ornaments from the tree in the gazebo,
leaving the lights, another pleasant winter warmer when peering through
the kitchen windows into the darkness of the garden beyond. I may just leave
it there until early Spring.
While working outside, I hung this adorable tiny birdseed covered cottage, a
gift from my neighbor Lori who knows how much I love the wild birds.
The first bird I saw visit, within minutes of hanging, was one of my Carolina wren
family - it checked the house from top to bottom but didn't snack. Wrens apparently
don't eat commercial seed as I rarely see them on the feeders either.
My now dead and shriveled Boston ferns still hang on the porch. As always,
year after year, the wren family come at dusk and sleep the night away in their
makeshift hotel. I don't have the heart to take the baskets down until replacing
with fresh ones come Spring.
Yesterday, more raking/blowing also took place. Most of the leaves are down
now, another mountain at the curb awaiting the final city pickup later this month.
At 5 o'clock, garden tools were wiped clean and stored, gloves and scarves
were pulled off, jackets unzipped . . . . . . . time for hot chocolate as we'd missed
teatime, but we felt like we'd accomplished a lot to keep the winter garden looking good.
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