Living

Indeed, the fall season lasted just into January 2016. The ferns that hang from lamp posts in Old Louisville finally got zapped by a freeze just after the New Year.  
Winter jasmine is in bloom, among other late winter bloomers, and a few spring flowering trees have broken bud. Our current cool down is welcome just to slow things down a bit.
In the average year, believe it or not, there are things of interest in the winter garden even if we are in a deep freeze.  

Have you noticed a sticky substance on the floor beneath your ficus or philodendron? Are there little scabs on the underside of the leaves of your orchid? Maybe you have noticed that your plants just look a little lackluster.  
Well, we can blame some plant puniness on being a tropical houseplant indoors in the winter.  
Low levels of light and humidity trigger a response in plants that slows them down for the winter. They shed foliage and basically standby until the environment turns more favorable.  

Luther and Armetta Fryman celebrated their 70th anniversary. They were married on Dec. 24, 1945.
They have seven children, Bobby, Jerry, David, Randy, Trudy, Rita and the late Herbert.

I like to take time to reflect on the general state of things as one year ends and another begins.
Other than a few minor details, I like where I am.  
I get to think about food and farming as a practical application at home as Andy and I cared for 800 Freedom Rangers on pasture for the summer season; 65 head of sheep at their peak after lambing and 100 layers that reliably deliver the gift of an egg every 36 hours or so (except for this time of the year).