Welcome to Junuary

We had quite a lovely May here in the Pacific Northwest:  only a few sprinkles of rain, plenty of sunshine, lots of days in the high 60s/low 70s.  Going Outside Weather.

Now it is June 4th, and I've turned the heat on in the morning for 3 of those 4 days.  And I've been staring at my NatureBright SunTouch lightbox, which is designed to "boost your mood and energy throughout the year by mimicking the effects of a sunny sky."  I'll bet they do a booming business in this neck'o'the woods.

But hey, it's Spring, and lovely Spring things are happening regardless of the temperature, such as this:

And this:

 Please Don't Eat the Daisies

Oh, well, there were too many daisies in the yard anyway.

Dog cuteness overload:  Pippin tries to make nice to Chloe

There were more signs of Spring at the Montlake Fill this past week:

One of these things is not like the other:

And of course, it isn't Spring without goslings:

Before the arrival of Junuary, I managed to do a little sketching in my garden:

Even after the arrival of Junuary, I managed to get outside once -- in fact, my friends and I got out yesterday morning, during the only two hours on Sunday that weren't drizzly.

Then it was back inside for indoor practice sketching from photographs:

from a photograph by Beth Moon from her amazing book Ancient Trees

So that was my exciting week.  Now it's back to Junuary.  It is currently 49 degrees with completely socked-in gray skies.

Perhaps I'll get outside again in July....