Transition Time

It's a heckuva thing when tansy stands out in a field along a a country road.  

Well, tansy usually does that anyway, but when the weed in its winter dormancy actually looks kinda photogenic, you know you're getting pretty desperate and that it's still January.

Actually, I'd call that clump of tansy in the photo above more artful than photogenic.  The contrast, the seemingly interactive play between stems----yeah, of course, in mid-January that speaks to me!  

Don't ask me for any interpretation.

Same is true with dead grass hanging from barbwire.  Maybe my friend Ann could paint the image, label it "Dead Grass on Barbwire" and make a fortune.

Long story short, yesterday turned out to be one of those January semi-blah days.  Twasn't one that kept me in the house, but, after the gorgeous day we enjoyed on Monday, it wasn't exactly one to rave about either. 

The blahness of it all kept me looking toward the "little things" to amuse myself, whether it was dead tansy or simply my neighbor's barn, which is very pretty standing against the evergreens.

The palomino horse munching down on lovely green hay made a nice contrast too.  Elton Anderson's horses always get lovely green hay and lots of it too.  

In fact, I often photograph them during different seasons of the year because they are so pretty in their environment. 

The photo below the palomino was taken a few days ago.  I just thought it was pretty cute to see little CB sucking his medicine from a syringe.  

As we near the end of daily treatments for his cold, the little guy has decided he likes that medicine.  

One day, in fact, I went to get the halter from the far end of the indoor arena.  By the time, I arrived back at the door, Barbara had already administered his medicine without a halter. 

And, what can I say about yesterday?  He took his medicine from me in the stall, with very little fuss.  Afterward, we went out into the arena area to walk around and to practice a few basics like "whoa" and "back."  

Then, it was time to inspect the big, colorful ball which sits in the middle of the arena.  That's when I learned that I have me a soccer horse.  

CB's tiny little nose kept busy for about 20 minutes, nudging the ball around the arena and sometime even into the area where Laurie was working with one of her young horses on the lunge line.

Both Laurie and I were also mystified as to why CB tries to lie down on the ball.  He picked himself up off the ground several times during his play time----all very entertaining, to say the least. 

With that part of the day done and after my afternoon walk down Selle Road in a misty rain, I decided it was time to shut down the deck Christmas lights and to remove wreaths and other decorations. 

It's hard for me to shut down Christmas because I love the lights, but THIS IS the down side of January, so it's time to quit dreaming of white Christmases and start dreaming of daffodils fluttering in the breeze. 

After yesterday, most of our outdoor Christmas decorations have been put away----all except the red bows tacked to the fence on other side of a tall snow berm.  I decided to wait for more meltdown before tackling that project.

I also took a pot of pansies, which are coming back to life, from the deck to the greenhouse, after shoveling two feet of snow from the greenhouse door, of course.

Could be if we don't have any really cold weather ahead, those pansies will keep on reviving themselves and maybe even start blooming. 

And, since it's transition time, yesterday seemed like a perfect time to start adding to the seed inventory. Out came the Burpees catalog and its order blank.  

So far, varieties of lettuce and my annual six packages of red geranium seeds have been designated on the order blank. 

This January thaw has been a way of turning our minds ahead toward spring.  We all know that's a long way ahead, but nothing wrong with exercising our minds with how nice it's gonna be when snow leaves to make way for and colorful new life around the place.

This spring I'll have nearly 200 additional daffodils blooming around the yard, so that's definitely something to keep my mind excited during any future days of winter blah. 

And, I'll probably let dead tansy and equine soccer stars keep me entertained. 

Happy Wednesday.