I get so caught up in the flow of seasons, always joyously anticipating the next one along the chain.  Yesterday, I noticed that the darkness was already coming later --- 6 pm and Mark and I were still out preparing firewood for the night.  Walking Lucy, I found mole salamander tadpoles drifting under the ice in floodplain puddles, their feathery gills sucking oxygen out of the frigid water.  Signs of spring on the last day of the year!

Inside, we harvested the first tomato off the plant Daddy gave us at Thanksgiving.  I've had zero luck with growing tomatoes indoors in winter until this plant came along.  But this is a hybrid variety carefully bred for indoors life.  Daddy paid fifty cents per seed for his start, but quickly learned that he could keep the plants going indefinitely by taking cuttings (one of which he gave me.)  Our house is really too cold even for this little guy, and about 70% of the flowers don't manage to set fruit, but I'm curious to see how long I can keep it going.

Happy New Year, everybody!  I have a feeling that this year will be the best one yet!

Remember that little book I'm supposed to be writing?  As I hoped, starting was the hardest part.  Despite ten thousand visits and visitors in December, I've now finished a rough draft for the first chapter and a quarter out of six chapters.  (So what if the chapter I finished was the shortest one....)

Yesterday, I spent most of the day researching the Arcto-Tertiary forest -- a vast expanse of trees which once spread across the northern portions of North America, Europe, and Asia, then got whittled down by changing climates until all that remains is a pocket of close relatives here in the southern Appalachians and a pocket in eastern China.  I think that my head is still somewhere deep in the Ice Age, watching the advancing glaciers batter the European forest against the Alps until every tree (ent-like in my mind) perishes.

Meanwhile, and far more relevantly, Mark and I spent our Christmas money from his mom's side of the family on replacing the stunning camera which I had to return to my nonprofit when I severed the knot.  You can look forward to vibrant photos again from here on out!  (This photo is of our lemon tree taken indoors at night without a flash.)  Thank you, Rose Nell and Jayne!

It was mostly cloudy today as can be seen in this picture of today's sunset out by the mailbox.

There's only a couple of days left in 2008 and 2009 is already starting to look like a fine year for the Wetknee farm. I guess these cloudy days bring out my introspective side a little more than usual.

It was warm enough to continue the ditch digging operation today which will be running from the hand dug well to the trailer through the garden.

The goal will be to prevent any future freezing of the line thanks to the warmer temperatures underground.

I don't think I'll miss carrying water in 5 gallon buckets, but it really isn't all that difficult once you get the hang of it.

Food scholars date the dear old fruit cake all the way back to ancient Egypt. It seems to be one of the many things required to ease your journey through the afterlife.

I hope everyone reading this is having a happy holiday season.

It's raining right now, which means we missed having a white Christmas by about 16 degrees.

This Blade Runner like mural of the future at the court house was yet another sign that Anna is the right match for me. To me it's an excellent omen of how far our connection will take us.

I may very well be the luckiest guy in the galaxy, and with Anna as my partner I feel like there's nothing we can't accomplish.

Yesterday was the big day no one but me and Mark knew about --- we ran off and got married at city hall!  For weeks, I've been holding my tongue whenever I talked to anyone I care about, dying to spill the beans but knowing I'd better not.  At night, I fought off nightmares where my friends and family forced me into dresses and veils and churches.

I'm the one woman in a thousand who never dreamed of her wedding day, who disavowed the notion of a church and state sanctioned relationship.  But after three and a half years living in each other's pockets, we decided to throw a big party for our friends and family --- kind of a commitment ceremony.  And that got me thinking, so I took a look at our taxes and realized we'd save $500 by signing the sheet of paper.

We set the date for the day after the solstice so that even I could remember when our anniversaries roll around.  I also like the symbolism of the light returning to the earth.  And, of course, there's the fact that we had to get married before the end of the year to get the tax break. 

Yesterday we set out, picture IDs in hand, to the county courthouse.  But ten minutes from home, Mark got cold feet.  Read more... (Like my cliffhanger?)

Here in the mountains, the winter sun peeks over the hill later and later every day until by the solstice it is barely hitting the trailer at noon.  Although I know I won't be able to notice the longer days for a couple of weeks, I can already feel the relief of knowing that we're on the upward swing of daylight.

Mark and I went to a solstice party at our neighbors' yesterday afternoon --- 2 pm to 5 pm, the perfect time of day to haul me out of my shell.  I succumbed to the impulse to show off, making chicken potstickers and cheese crackers as our potluck items.  We came home with three gift bags of homemade goodies --- jams and jellies, wound ointment, biscotti, dried apples.  That's the kind of gift I can reciprocate with joy.

At home, I put together gift bags for my family out of extra things I had around the house plus food items Mark and I won't eat but think they will.  (I become more like my mother every day....)  Then I decorated our plant shelf with homemade ornaments --- gingerbread cookies from my family, elves I made out of candy wrappers ten years ago, little figures Mark made out of clothes pins when he was in the cub scouts.  When it doesn't spiral out of control, I have to admit that I like the decorations and hidden gifts of Christmas.

I'm always interested in low budget building methods that break away from the traditional square lodge approach.

If these concrete culverts were buried into a south facing hillside you might get a perfect year round temperature at zero cost?

This could also work as a root cellar and maybe even a small green house if enough sky lights could be added. The circular design would make it easy to roll into position when you get ready to bury it.

With every inch of rain, our world gets smaller.  One inch Wednesday and I only managed to walk Lucy as far as the creek rather than our usual two thirds of a mile down the road.  Then another inch and a half yesterday and I only make it to the alligator swamp before turning back in search of dry feet.

But rain is good for making me settle down with the laptop and finally start plugging away on the natural history book I'm supposed to be co-writing.  I hope that beginning is the hardest part --- I spent seven hours yesterday writing version after version before finally settling on one page I like.  My usual rate is more like a page an hour for first drafts --- I'm putting the extra six hours down to figuring out the theme and tone of the book.  I hope....