The Quiet Month

January was a moody and capricious month here in South-Central Kentucky with weather that was never bitterly cold, instead giving us some chilly nights, several noisy night-time thunder storms, wind, and days that shifted quickly between clouds and sunshine.

December, no matter how quietly one keeps the holiday, is unsettling.

I have always found January a time for hunkering down, to read, to ponder projects I might undertake, a time to be quietly creative.

The month just past has been an inward-looking time for me, fostered in part by a bout of insomnia that didn't want to let me out of its clutches.

Sunny hours have found me outside, squelching about in my tall boots, marveling at the signs of early spring.

The Yellow Simplicity roses have tiny new leaves on the lower branches--leaves of palest green

edged in crimson.

Deer have left the imprints of their pointy hooves in the lower garden. Coming home after dark Monday evening the headlights of the old truck picked up their fleet forms bounding away across the front lawn.

I think a stout fence around my perennial beds and extending to enclose the veg strips is in order.

The high fence which J. established around the big upper garden has kept all would be munchers at bay.

Except for a few exuberant cold-blasted blooms the daffodils remain in bud.

When we viewed this house during the first week of March, 2010, the daffs [called March lilies here] were at about this stage of prebloom--in full bloom when we returned March 21 with our worldly goods in tow.

I am delighted to see that the self-sown poppies are standing winter temperatures.

The seedlings are much too close together, but I've found that poppies don't transplant well.  Where the seed falls is where they prefer to grow and bloom.

The weeding of the flower strips, so meticulously carried out in September is all to be done over as soon as the soil warms. The most invasive weed is one called 'hen-bit', described as a 'winter annual' which sets seeds in the fall.  It surely did that!

With the red, white and blue quilt finished and handed over to G. I brought out a project that was underway at the time we had to pack for the move from Wyoming to Kentucky.

I have taken this up again with real pleasure.  The fabrics are fine quality and the colors are perennial favorites.

Another evening or two should see the blocks finished. This pattern comprises two of my favorite patchwork elements--"Sawtooth Star" and the 'logs' which are added in the manner of 'Courthouse Steps.'

Several of the cats have shown great interest in the project---Willow the small tabby, climbing into my lap to watch the sewing machine needle go up and down--up and down.

With my research as finished as can be on my father's ancestry, I was still in the mood for history, so resumed compiling the details of my son-in-law's family--he and I had worked on that a bit

several years ago.

His maternal line springs from my home county, so the names of locations are very familiar.

Thus a quiet January has been spent and with spring just around the corner the days for such projects are numbered.

J. is chaffing at the bit to be off to Lowes for materials for one of his projects, so I'd best gather myself and head out to the car.