Pretty morning

Hamamelis 'Arnold's Promise'

I think that the pheasants watch for me to put out the bird seed.
As soon as I step back inside
they seem to come out in a flash
to gather up the droppings from the feeder.

We're getting close. Close to my self-determined date of the return of light. I consider making it to Valentine's Day, with sanity intact, as the date when the length of daylight is no longer an issue, and when I breathe a sigh of relief. By then I no longer subconsciously complain about the grimness of the northern winter. By then there is a sufficient amount of daylight to quell any longing to go south. And just at this pivotal point in the earth's rotation a lovely dusting of snow reminds of winter's renewed grip. Yesterday, while tidying up in the garden, I found crocus pushing up through the surface of the earth with tight buds. Soon the vast expanse of purple petals will be here. Those guys are such prolific reproducers. I don't mind one little bit that they have spread all over the garden.