Portland doesn’t do much official winter, but we had a little bit last night and this morning, just enough to frost and quiet our world.
Happy winter!
Red berries on heavenly bamboo; icicles under lichens; dogwood buds slumbering; crystal droplets on last year’s asparagus; mugo pines snow cup; frosted Monster Girl!
So we have a full moon on the summer solstice. Apparently that hasn’t happened for 70 years and won’t happen again until 2062. Plus, it’s the strawberry moon, the rose moon, or the honey moon, depending on which cultural/tribal naming you follow. All of those sound lovely to me.
And very apropos. The strawberries and the rest of the berries are ripe, roses all over the neighborhood are sweet, and we are awash in happy bees. A hive of honeybees set up shop in some nearby towering pines and I know they can see every blooming thing in our garden. Come ‘n’ get it, little bees! We have enough to share.
Pictured: strawberries in bowl; blueberries still ripening down my arm!; marionberries from flowering to mouth-puckering unripe to ripe; greens growing in a repurposed fire pan; bees in poppy; flowering pineapple guava
ETA: a not-very-good picture of the rising moon, looking more werewolf than strawberry, rose, or honey 🙂
9:47 p.m. Goodbye, spring. Hello, summer! The wait for fresh salsa begins…
(Crosspost from See Jane Publish.)
My long holiday weekend got a little bit longer thanks to a lovely White Just-Missed-Christmas topped with an icing of, uh, ice. But since I was stuck at my computer, I figured there was no excuse not to sketch out my plans for the new year.
At first I wasn’t too excited about it…
Goal-setting is a little intimidating. I have to think ahead for a whole year?! It’s hard to see that far ahead, sometimes, and the path is slippery.
But ’tis the season for new year’s resolutions…
I know my big plans can only be achieved through drip-by-drip word counts and daily goals…
And so I start planning. At first it seems like a wild tangle, my brain is just a chaos of ideas and wishes and wannabes. These are my synapses on goal-setting:
But then the pieces start to come together and smooth out. Everything starts to move in the same direction. I can see a way forward through the wilderness of A. what I want to accomplish and B. what is possible. (Since I don’t have a stop-time machine.)
Eventually, my twelve-month to-do list starts to look — dare I say — rather impressive and stately…
I actually feel even inspired! I see potential brilliance hidden inside these small beginnings!
It’s early days, I know — very early days! — but I see the shape of what is to come.
With attention to my deadlines, I’ll be mowing down my goals!
If you have suggestions for launching with enthusiasm into the new year, please share in comments. And Happy New Year!
Jessa Slade 