The "Petty Pace' of January

Our days this January have seemed plodding, with little to distinguish one from another.

I can't call to mind a winter month with such consistently sunless dull weather.

Friday morning brought a brief dusting of snow which clung to the roofs for an hour before warming to the drizzle of chilly rain which has become overly familiar.

Several plants of clary sage, snow dusted, have taken root near the side porch steps, offspring of the mother  plant which bloomed for weeks during the summer. 

Clary is considered a biennial, so perhaps I won't have flowers this year. These volunteers will need to be relocated.

A welcome sign that our desultory winter will not last forever!

Wild daffodils are emerging behind the mailbox and under the pasture fence.

Those which can be reached by the goats have been nibbled.

I found on a pantry shelf a ziplock bag holding poppy seeds.  Usually I mark the date, but hadn't done so and no idea if these were recent enough to be viable.

I sprinkled them in the sadly depleted flower border below the workshop.

I am pleased to note that the foxglove which I started from seed two summers ago has created a little colony of plants. This is most likely the perennial dark pink variety called Spanish Foxglove.

I had only one plant of the more rare apricot color which was in the corner that suffered badly from the heavy summer rains.

Indoors the lanky-stemmed amaryllis rewarded my patience with delicately striped and

 dappled blooms.

The red variety which blossomed over the New Year produced nine large flowers, while this 

has only four.

I couldn't capture a nicely detailed photo----peak bloom was during several dark days. I tried using the flash--which produced distorted color.

This at least is true to color.

Paperwhites in a west window of the upstairs hallway, have budded.

Thus far they've not been discovered by Mima-cat who loves to nibble on greenery.

 Some sunshine today--enough to inspire pegging part of the wash on the back porch lines.

I caught this sunset moment as I was bringing in an armload of firewood--dumped the wood unceremoniously on the rack behind the stove and snatched up my camera.

The half light lingered until 5:30. 

We ran errands in Russell Springs and had a late lunch there, so no need to make supper.

Crackers and cheese sufficed for a snack.

I rallied my energies and spent several hours sewing.

Who knew there would be a demand for aprons inspired by my recent photos!