Maybe I dig the cold weather

After a fantastic and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, I expected to be one miserable SOB on Monday morning. Like a kid who doesn't want to go back to school, I contemplated pretending to be ill. Maybe food poisoning? My work would never question that, right? 

Before I could plan out my work abandonment, Casey, our labrador retriever of 11 years, was up and barking at exactly 6:42 AM. I kid you not, it has been exactly that time each morning for maybe the past 8 years. Girl has a routine and she sticks to it.

I opened the front door to let her out to do her "thang" and was immediately drawn to the frost filled yard. It was stunning. I completely lost track of feeding the dog, waking up the kids and getting ready for work. I ran in to get the camera and headed outside without any shoes. Even Casey was way confused:  

I just starting snapping off photos and couldn't have been happier. For one day at least, I forgot how much I hated the cold. The photos:   

Eupatorium 'Gateway' and Miscanthus 'Morning Light'

Ilex 'Blue Princess'

Barberry 'Crimson Pygmy'

Carex Buchananii 'Cappuccino'

Hydrangea 'Endless Summer'

Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'

Euonymus 'Silver King'

Miscanthus 'Gracillimus'

Chasmanthium Latifolium'

Boxwood 'cultivar unknown'

Hypericum 'Albury Purple'

Yucca 'Golden Sword'

Panicum 'Rotstrahlbusch' - Through the seasons

I am longing for the heat of summer today, so selfishly, I am posting photos of my favorite Panicum in chronological order from spring through current day. The friggin spring cannot come soon enough. Enjoy:

Wordless Wednesday and Thursday

Did I really say that?

Yes, we are coming up on that time of year.

ESPN will show their top ten plays of the year. VH1 will have their top ten craziest acts of the year committed by a former child actor who is now a wanna-be reality star. Nancy Grace will have her top ten moments of acting as judge and jury on some poor sap on her TV show. Jon Stewart could have his top ten moments of having his finger on the pulse more than our own government.

But I digress ...  

It's looking back on 2010 time and I'm ready to play too. Today, it's ten things I still can't believe I actually said in 2010:

• "I can't make it to your house for the opening weekend in the NFL, I'll be in Dallas for the Garden Writer's conference."

• "When is Oprah's 'Favorite Things' going to air?"

• "I'll be right back, don't let the kids know I am going to pee on the compost"

• "I really like using this Yucca as a focal point in my front bed"

• "I really need to focus more on SEO and use more keywords in the anchor text but not forgetting the value of backlinks."

• "I'll be right back, I'm going to head out to the back deck and cut us some lettuce for our salad"

 

• "I find Twitter very difficult to use, I don't see myself using it very often."

• "I really think this is the year the Mets put it all together"

• "I can't imagine I'll have the time or patience to take photos of any wildlife out in the yard." 

 

• "It's a garden blog. I'm just going to dabble in it a bit and maybe take a few pictures here and there. I can't imagine I'll work real hard on it or obsess over it."