January

It's been a thoughtful break, but now I am back into things full swing.  January saw the first of our much belated autumn-winter (our fall season consisted of a cold spell that lasted for about two weeks in early-to-mid November); it was a January autumn-winter that lasted all of a handful of days, for the temperature here has ranged anywhere from the low-to-high 60s for the last few weeks now.  While much of the Midwest has experienced (near) record-high snowfall and blustery, below-freezing temperatures this month, such as Detroit with Chicago close behind, we have experienced a milder form of the tropics here.  I was actually looking forward to wearing my scarves and long-sleeved shirts this winter, but with this dubious weather, my much coveted scarves and long-sleeved shirts will likely see little wear...  

That being said, the fog rolled in early last evening, and with it came a slight cool down in temperature.  Thank goodness!  Rain is even expected in the forecast.  Let's first see if Mother Nature throws us a curve ball.

Leaves collected in January 2014

Not that I'm complaining too much about the unseasonably warm weather because the above leaves collected earlier this month were beyond stunning, even if they were two months behind schedule in terms of coloration.  The poor daisies are even budding; my Thumbelina Leigh Lavender is throwing off tiny new shoots.  Our hummingbirds stayed, but now we are down to only one, and on occasion, two.

* * *

With Valentine's Day coming up, I've gone heart-crazy mad.  Coming from a person who isn't big on celebrating, this is quite a strange turn of events.  Perhaps there is a link between the blurring and skipping over of seasons and festive holiday giddiness--a similar event to, perhaps, seasonal affective disorder.  The "evidence" is shown below:

All for sale in my shop.  Call me a "crazy-heart lady" if you must, but have you been on Etsy lately?  It's like red heart central on there since December 24th.  It's pretty, it's festive, and it's all about love--so I will not critique nor dwell upon this subject any further.

Speaking of love, I found the below Etsy listing and found it appropriate (as well as witty):

MaryKralDesigns

Hope you are having a great year so far.  I look forward to blogging more in the coming months and years because January 2014 was an anomaly of sorts.