A day in January

Have I ever mentioned that it can get pretty cold here in the ‘south’? At least in these parts of the south where we live it does.  Cuddly pajamas and two pairs of super thick socks cold...

We woke up to 24 degrees this morning and a frosty world outside. Wintery breath had clouded the garden and created a universe of icicles over the pond. 

January’s footsteps were seen all over the garden… January always reminds me of my favorite childhood movie, “The Snow Queen”, a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen and one I could watch time and time again and never grow tired of… I like to think of January as the Snow Queen—a woman who wears a gown of winter frost and blows ice particles that get into people's hearts and eyes, freezing their hearts like blocks of ice… burrrr!

The ferns I’ve been nursing in the garage for the winter had to be brought inside where is warmer.  I like how they look here in our sunny dinning room; love the bohemian flair and the feeling of well-being they impart to the room.  Here's the room in evening light

 And in morning light...

A firefly nest in my bowl!

Can you see them flapping their wings?

If you watch them for too long I’m sure you'll see them fly away

It makes me want to sit by the big square table and enjoy my quiet mornings even more…

Mornings always find a way of peeking in my dinning room windows 

and waking up magic all around me… 

 Do you love mornings?

“I let my head fall back, and I gazed into the Eternal Blue Sky.
It was morning. Some of the sky was yellow, some the softest blue.
 One small cloud scuttled along.
Strange how everything below can be such death and chaos and pain
while above the sky is peace, sweet blue gentleness.
I heard a shaman say once, the Ancestors want our souls to be like the blue sky.”

Shannon Hale, Book of a Thousands Days.