With below-average temperatures on 24 out of 28 days, February tied the record for the coldest spring ever in the Texas Hill Country, according to the National Weather Service. And the second wettest September-October period on record, too. That's El Nino for you. All the rain that normally comes to Venezuela ended up here. But the daffodils are loving it. This pretty clump is surrounded by artemisia seedlings. The cypress trees along the creek (running full now, bank to bank) must be loving it, too, but until they start leafing out (another few weeks) we won't be able to see what kind of damage the long drought did to them. One disappointment: the creek is full and I've seen turtles (sliders and a snapping turtle) but no fish.
Heard this morning: the lovely gabble of a turkey tom in the meadow to the south of us, then a little later, another, off to the east. And a redtail hawk couple is beginning the reconstruction of the old hawk nest in the woods. Spring is definitely on the way.
Garden and animal friends report. Seeded more lettuce, spinach, kale, and put in about 50 green onion sets. Didn't plant as many green onions as last year because the perennial onions had a good winter, and I'm pulling them already. The soil's still damp from the weekend rain, but hope to plant more peas (English and snow peas) when it dries out. Last night for supper, I had fresh carrots cooked with ginger and a spoonful of orange marmalade. Yum!
Also: moved the cows this week, to another pasture, where there's a little more grass for them. Which meant draining/cleaning/moving/setting up a water tank, as well. Last year, with the drought, the grass was very thin, so the livestock needs supplemental feeding. You can see photos of our animals here, taken over several years and during greener seasons.
Book report: The last couple of weeks have been dizzying. The electronic file of the copyedited manuscript of THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE CUCUMBER TREE came late Thursday, to be done in track changes (didn't like that at first, now am an ardent fan). The copyeditor did something very nice with this book: created a bible--at least, the beginnings of one. I expanded it as I work on the text, and now have something solid to work from when I begin the second book in the series. The book is about six weeks behind schedule, so there's not time to include a map of Darling. But the artist (the same gal who does the maps/art for the Cottage Tales) has agreed to create one--in color!--for the Darling Dahlias website. With the book fresh in my mind, I finished the preliminary sketch yesterday. Now that's done, I can go back to MOURNING GLORIA. Whew. Feels like I've been playing catch-up for months.
Fiber stuff. But there's always time for knitting in the evenings. These blue socks for instance, went to Peggy, webmistress and friend extraordinaire, for her birthday. (Happy birthday, Peggy! And yes, those are Peggy's feet inside those socks.) I've had the yarn (merino superwash) for a while, but I think it's KnitPicks. Very soft and the colorway makes it fun to work with. (Click on the photo for a larger view.) I finished a pair of brown socks during the Olympics--I'll post that photo in a few days.
Did you know that China bayles has her own fan page over at Facebook? I'm there too. If you're on Facebook, let's connect. I usually post several microblogs a day there, and use Lifescapes for longer bits of story about this place.
Reading note. There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.--Linda Hogan