The Lake

The Lake, a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

1/8 Sheet
Arches 140#CP

Dawn breaks in a misty, dreamy light. Though there's a chill in the air that reminds us it is still winter, there's a subtle warmth too, promising that today at least, will be a bit warmer.
The light comes slowly to the land, and the day begins.

This is how our winter has been here in the piedmont of North Carolina. A few mornings of misty cool followed by warm days. Every once in a while, probably not more times than ten, have we had extreme cold. Clouds would gather and look like the promise of a snowfall, but instead, we have another day of gray, drippy rain.

While this kind of weather has helped everyone's heating bills and has been a delight in terms of outdoor activities, gardeners and nature observers watch with concern as flowers, shrubs and trees are fooled into an early bloom, and then promptly get 'nipped in the bud' by those infrequent days of real winter cold. At the Arboretum, we remove browned flower petals and pile more mulch around those early plants to try to keep them warm through the cold days. But there is only so much we can do against this type of weather roller coaster.

Today will be one of the warm, rainy ones, and we'll be spending time with the grands this afternoon. With all the busyness of the holidays and then mom's illness, they haven't even had time to play with the Christmas gifts they received from us ... so today, we play with clay, bake cookies, build a few things, and maybe get to paint a bit.

Hope your day is wonderful!