A Deal with Myself

Early Birds: Edna, my Christmas Cactus, is jumping the gun.

Chaotic weather patterns continue. First bitter cold and heaps of snow. I busied myself baking bread and grumbling about the weather.

Now comes unusually warm days. Bright sunshine melts away the snow offering a last horse back ride of the season. In a t-shirt, no less!

Cyclamen flowers decorate my office on these long, dark nights.

This heat wave is simply postponing the inevitable, I suppose. Even so, I was glad to see a summer-like day. This time of year is always a little hard on me.

The nights are too long and the days too short.

My goofy Plum Bonsai tree offers only 1 flower at a time.

I find myself pacing restlessly wondering what to do... What should I do?

Seems my passions run high in the summer months and are running on empty now that gardening and horsies are done for the season.

Kalanchoe radiates happiness on dreary days.

It was nice, though, playing hooky from work. Trotting along a quiet trail. Soaking in the last little bits of a lingering autumn.

While I was out there I decided to strike a deal with myself:

Right here, right now, stop whining about the weather, stop mourning the end of this sweet, sweet summer.

And, be on the prowl for a new winter hobby...

Radiating Happiness

New bud on my indoor micro-mini roses. When fully opened, her flowers are about the size of a quarter.

I'm blessed (and a little bit cursed) with a very sunny house. So sunny the furniture fades and it's hard to watch t.v. until the sun goes down.

Kalanchoes in desperate need of deadheading.

So super sunny I can grow small batches of pretty much anything indoors ~ including spinach and tomatoes.

But, I don't. After the first experiment, determining that I could be practical and grow veggies...

One over-achieving Amaryllis bulb in my herd of future holiday gifts.

I went straight back to the thing that matters most: Bright, happy indoor flowers who keep me somewhat sane throughout the long, cold winter.

Update on reprogramming the beautiful Bella:
I have grudgingly accepted the rule that 'you can begin gently, but you cannot stay gentle forever.' Just so I'm crystal clear ~ that doesn't mean harming, or frightening, B in any way, shape or form. More on the order of sticking up for myself so she doesn't run over me anymore. I thought for sure she'd hate me because of this new authority, our relationship is so very fragile. Interesting, though, she seems to like me more than ever... I'm astonished at the progress we've made in one wonderful week.