The Wrong Lilies

The Wrong Lilies

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

WE HAD SUCH A LOVELY FALL



In our area we had an unusually lovely fall.  Several mild days in a row, even toward the end of November, when we could do all sorts of cleanup tasks in the garden and last minute bulb planting, turning the compost heaps, vacuuming leaves, all that sort of thing, and when we got tired, we’d stop for a break and sit at the garden table and survey what we had accomplished and make note of what we still needed to do.  Just before the first frost we harvested the cherry tomatoes on the vines and had enough to ripen and eat for several weeks.  Sometimes we’d have rain, very welcome, and then would come some more lovely days.  Well, that ended rather abruptly in early December when a winter storm advisory came true and three inches of ice fell overnight, followed by several days of below-freezing weather, bringing much of everyday life in our area to a standstill, because the ice just didn't go away; it stayed for almost a week.  And all of this before the first day of winter.

 Now there are parts of this country where winter storms at this time of year are not unexpected, but around here we’ve been known to not have a freeze til January and not see a winter weather visit such as snow and/or ice until mid-January or early February.  Last year I had daisies blooming at Christmas. 

But this year the weather patterns were interesting everywhere and even with the ice, we personally knew we were lucky.  We didn’t lose electrical power, we had enough warning to stock up on food and comforts, we had wood at hand just in case, and even our cat, Max, who loves sunshine and being in the garden about as much as any creature, was content to snuggle inside on the ottomans where he’s allowed, taking long winter naps.  We looked out the window a lot, made sure the birds had food, we read and found plenty of tasks to do inside, and we were almost as content as the cat.