End Of January Thoughts

In most American states, January is regarded as a "bad" month because of the post-holiday season let-down and the mid-winter cold. Days are short, the light is bleak, we find ourselves encased in ice. Because our lives are likewise short, I'm really, really, really trying to reroute my thinking to appreciate every reality. Such as January. While puttering in the kitchen recently, I glanced at the window and ended up taking pictures of my struggling houseplants leaning toward the whiteness outside.

Because I just discovered a delightful blog here called "Julie Tries ... " in which Julie wrote about "Lavender in Winter," posting a couple of photos of her lavender plants that not only have survived but have bloomed, I'm going to copy her and present you with those photos I took a few weeks ago of my little plants. To ease your winter blues, I also invite you to visit her blog.

Below is the same photo, tweaked a little bit to make the scene more gentle. 

If only we could tweak winter. 

In case you didn't notice, the green leaves are beyond the screen while the pink plants are inside. My mother gave me a silk ficus that I keep outside the window. 

And below is a magnification of a bit of the same picture. To go English-class on you, allow me to point out that the screen symbolizes our sense of being trapped by the cold of winter, and the green leaf tips symbolize our yearning to grow and thrive, to seek light wherever we can find it. 

The final photo is a different shot altogether, but the hot pink against the snow will make you feel happy and warm and springtimy! Hence, not only is today's post meant to be the end-of-January thoughts, today being the 30th, but it also resolves to be the End of January-thoughts.