January and February are months of high maintenance for me. Routine doctors' appointments, medical tests, and dental visits seem to pile up during the period, and, along with Grandparents' Day at the schools of two of my grandchildren, will keep me/us on the run for the next few weeks.
The weather here has been quite cold (for us!), with temperatures two nights running down into the 20s F. I know you heartier types, who have REALLY COLD WEATHER and snow storms to deal with, scoff at my moans about cold weather, but we are not at all accustomed to below freezing temperatures.
Yesterday, when I went to the doctor's office at 9:30 AM, the temperature was just at freezing. When I returned home about an hour later, the temp was still freezing and felt much colder due to a strong north wind.
A good many plants outside, along with the lawn, are now dead. The trees are bare, except for the evergreens. Altogether the landscape is dreary, but for the evergreens, which give us a bit of relief from the dead and brown. The photo above shows rather more green than I would have expected, with the pines and the oaks providing color. The green you see on the front lawn are weeds, not grass.
