Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Sonnet 97 by William Shakespeare How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! What old December’s bareness everywhere! And yet this time remov’d was summer’s time, The teeming autumn, big with rich increase, Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime, Like widow’d wombs after their lords’ decease: Yet this abundant issue seem’d to me But hope of orphans and unfather’d fruit; For summer and his pleasures wait on thee, And thou away, the very birds are mute; Or if they sing, ’tis with so dull a cheer That leaves look pale, dreading the winter’s near.

Today, it is cold and tiny drops of ice are falling, enough to whiten the deck.  It is a day of earaches and stuffy noses and hiding under quilts. What could you do on a day like this?  Order seeds, of course. From my favorite seed company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, we're getting some variegated lettuce and some herb seeds.  We always order one thing we haven't grown before; this year it is Plum Granny.  Remember when they would be at the end of  Grandma's garden? They were bland and we didn't eat them, but they were so pretty and smelled fabulous.  Time will tell. Ordering seeds: its what I do on cold, dark days in the middle of January.