Talking in my Sleep

"You think I am dead,"
The apple tree said,
"Because I have never a leaf to show -
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!

"But I'm still alive in trunk and shoot;
The buds of next May
I fold away -
But I pity the withered grass at my root."

"You think I am dead,"
The quick grass said,
"Because I have parted with stem and blade!
But under the ground,
I am safe and sound
With the snow's thick blanket over me laid.

"I'm all alive, and ready to shoot,
Should the spring of the year
Come dancing here -
But I pity the flower without branch or root."

"You think I am dead,"
A soft voice said,
"Because not a branch or root I own.
I never have died, but close I hide
In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.

"Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again -
I shall laugh at you then,
Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.

Edith Matilda Thomas (1854 - 1925)

The name of the poem is Talking in Their Sleep and like the apple tree, grass and flower I am waiting patiently through the winter hours.  The deer aren't as patient as they are having a hard time of it.  I finally caved and started putting some feed out.

Everything feels like these droplets of water…

suspended in time. The snow cover is the same, the temperatures are the same, the future forecast is the same. That being said, I am preparing for more cold weather yet also preparing for the inevitable thaw and return to gardening.

And I am knitting.  I finished the baby blanket.  #2 daughter had it all packed in a laundry basket of goodies and wouldn't let me take it out.  You can't see it in this picture but it is crib size and the way it is crocheted the blue is more dominant on one side and brown more on the other.

 I even had time to knit a pair of baby socks.  

I had to knit myself another pair of mittens as I left the last pair in Philly.   

I hope #1 daughter gets some use out of them.  I saw a pair of bed socks in Knitting Vintage Socks and liked the design so I knit them up and I am sending them down to #1 daughter. 

 I have another pair of socks on the needles for myself.  I saw a pin on Pinterest how to make stripes in ribbing without the bumps of the other color showing. 

I had to put stripes in this pair of socks just to check it out and it does work!  

 Why did I not know this before now?

I did clean up the greenhouse in preparation of the upcoming season.  I bought some peat pellet trays to start seeds and they are soaking/expanding now, later today they will be filled with tomato and pepper seeds...maybe.

And canning season has started.  While combining freezers I took out two small turkeys and cooked them.  I then made turkey stock and canned it…11 quarts and 3 pints.  There are several bags of rhubarb which might get turned into pie filling before the weekend is over.

So I guess things are moving along even if it is like molasses going uphill in February!