Winter Blahs

When is a blog not a blog? When you don't get around to writing one. When you don't feel especially inspired about anything in your environment at the moment.

I'm in the winter blahs. Ever experienced it? It's that period of time that teases you with hints of spring,? longer daylight hours, crocuses in bloom and daffodils bending over after a late chill. In Seattle, it's the gray of the day that it punctuated by a glimpse of color on the hill or in a tree. It's the simple thought that beyond that fog layer and gray lies a mountain range worth hiking ? if it ever warms up and clears off.

It's been difficult to realize how much I?m not a winter person. Watching the Olympics on TV is fascinating to me and yet I hide under a blanket just thinking of that cold and exposure. The ballet of snowboarding is enthralling; the speed of the bobsled frightening ? but these folks are doing it ? living life out loud on the edge.

So it's off to the Volunteer Park Conservatory of Flowers for me today in search of something warm and bright to photograph. I've also been told the butterfly exhibit at the Pacific Science Center is helpful in connecting with nature and then there's the good ol' walk down Lake Washington to see the eagles and hear the robins calling.

Bring on those tulip fields and irises and mustard blossoms that ring true of the brilliance of pure warmth. I want to relish in the saturated greens of new grass and the delicate fingertips of young growth on the firs. Taunt me with a columbine and a trillium that makes my heart soar with birth.

But for now ? I need to really see and enjoy the present and not live in the future?.(In more ways than one.)

Here's a glimpse at what a little exploring in the neighborhood and at the conservatory has brought me.