A pale dawn, a new year.
Well we survived 2014 and all that it threw at us and here we stand at the dawn of 2015. Today I am not going to look back or look forward. Let us just be in today. It is cold and crisp, the sun is shining. Now, approaching noon, those fields which face the sun have been washed green. Those in shadow still hang on to the grey frost which silvered all the landscape as the sun came up this morning in a wash of pink and grey. Ian is in bed with the worst flu I have seen in a long time. I take him a sweet tea and another blanket and go outside to check on the hens. There is ice on the pond and I break the ice on the hens' water drinkers. The hens are congregating on the roof of one of the houses to catch the sun. This is the point of the year when I feel the need to poke around, searching for signs of new growth. Yes, the yew tree is full of birds. Yes, the holly shines and the ivy flowers catch the sun. Yes, th...