Januweary?

 A fellow blogger commented to me that maybe it was time to change my blog header to "something less alarming and more hopeful to spring."

Well, it is still January. The snow could still fall. But it is true that for many of us January has been a long month.  Whether it's weather or pandemic restrictions or ill health or effects of aging or pain or just boredom, January has been a challenge. 

But at least here in the Pacific Northwest, Spring is never far away.

Mahonia blooms are attracting our pair of hummingbirds.

Ocean Spray, our first native shrub to break bud here, is getting ready to show off its first green leaves and sprays of dainty white flowers. 

I found this bud on a euonymus shrub. It will open to pink and orange.

Tom's transplanted winter blooming cyclamen are popping up everywhere and beginning to bloom.

This clump of yellow primroses persists year after year, now edged by little bracket fungus working to return this tree branch to the soil. 

The sun came out about 11:00 this morning! It is lighting up the yard and showing off all of Tom's work. There are more newly mulched places.

And, look! The mulch pile is gone!

The mulch was delivered last Friday, and Tom finished spreading it by 3:30 the following Wednesday, with one rest day in between. He even surprised himself. Now he has a day to putter outside less strenuously before the weather turns back to winter this weekend. 

And me? Well, I seem to have messed myself up even more today, just doing my physical therapy. But I'll try a few miles on my recumbent  stationary bike now and see if that helps loosen my hip up. 

Yes, there will be a new header soon. Maybe think red, like my now blooming amaryllis.