“When I finished writing this, the thermometer outside my door read 18 below zero. I now know that spring will never come. I shall spend the rest of my life reading seed and plant catalogues, and books about gardens and the people involved with them.”

This is a quote from Jamaica Kincaid’s “My Garden (Book):” It is printed on a page along with the following sketch by Jill Fox:

If you are in my area, I don’t need to tell you that the view outside the window today is quite similar; we are literally buried in at least 12 inches of snow, and it is still coming down out there. So I can relate to what Ms. Kincaid is saying.

I don’t feel quite so lethargic about it though. In fact I’ve been looking forward to this snow. The kids love to sled, and I hope we will be out a good long while this afternoon, as soon as the wind is not so strong that the snow is coming down horizontally. It gives us the morning to spend indoors though, with bread baking and me at the stovetop browning bison for tomorrow’s super bowl chili.

In addition to the weather similarities though, there’s also the reading. I have a stack of gardening books and seed catalogs that I’ve been moving from the kitchen table, to the arm chair, and now to the stairs. There’s no point in putting any of them away as I glance over them many times throughout the day. (And this stack has grown significantly since I took this photo. SigNIFicantly.)

I’ve already placed my order for my heirloom tomato transplants from Seed Savers Exchange, as well as a few vegetable and flower seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. (More on why I ordered from these particular sites and what I ordered from them later.)

I also have a few little gardening projects going on inside the house, to keep me going.

Herbs - Basil, Sage, Dill, and Cilantro:

Bulbs - Tulips and Narcissus:

And of course my African Violet. Remember, I have a son who loves purple. He is literally requesting right now that his yogurt be put in a purple bowl.

Thank you all for responding to that last post - I really appreciate your input. It was nice to finally think through some of what has been on my mind lately, and I continued to do so as each comment came in and through the rest of the day.

The result is a rekindled excitement over blogging again. I think I just needed a rest and to rethink my reasons for doing it. At this time last year I was writing for four different websites. I spent just about every evening after the kids went to bed writing/blogging for those sites, and even quite a bit of stolen time during the day. Really, it’s no wonder I got a bit burnt out. And my blogging went from being something I could do when I chose to do it to an activity that had deadlines and even frustrations in some cases. So one by one I stopped writing for all of those sites except this one, my own.

And because it is my own (and as several of you pointed out in your comments), I get to do with it what I want!

I’ve decided I don’t need or want to start a new blog altogether. I don’t have it in me, and honestly I can’t let this one go yet. Instead I will just continue to write about the things I care about. As it happens, right now that includes gardening, cooking, growing vegetables, and trying to eat locally produced foods. All of these interests have stemmed in one way or another from becoming a mother and trying to take care of my family, from what I feed them on a daily basis to how I teach my children to care for our planet. So in my mind, it all still has a place on this blog.

As do the daily goings on with my kids, the books I am reading, the random stuff I am thinking about. When I thought about what a week of posts would look like if I actually sat down to write what was in my head, only one was a post about plants. On that list was also a funny quote from Robby, a description of my awesome stack of books I have from the library and a recent trip to a used bookstore, a brief freak-out over the fact that I am registering Sam for Kindergarten tomorrow (what?!), and, staying true to old-school Total Mom Haircut tradition, a self-deprecating essay on my poor mothering skills. Hey, I’m just keepin’ it real.

I also might have included some recipes for a recent dinner I made in which every item we were eating was sourced locally. I’m able to do this pretty often now, but I know it is one of those things that can sound daunting to people, especially when they first begin. So I thought I might start to include recipes like that as a regular feature here, along with information about where and how I got the ingredients, etc. Things like that get me excited about blogging again.

So for now, I’m just gonna keep on truckin’ as I’ve been for the four years since I started this little ol’ blog. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, comments, and your time to read.

Before I begin this post, I have a question for my five remaining readers: what are your feelings about my posts about gardening?

I ask because I’m not sure what to do here. I haven’t been blogging much for months now, but certainly when I do there is a high frequency of posts about plants, gardening, vegetables, etc. And I’m just not sure that anyone who reads this blog is really into that. And of course I know it’s “my blog” and I can do what I want, but those posts really don’t fit under my blog title or its previous theme either.

I suppose I have to figure out what I’m doing with this blog anyway. And I have great friends who are bestowing me with blog awards and tagging me in memes in an attempt to get me involved again. But I go back and forth between thinking this blog is just kind of done, then feeling it might just be a low-phase, to thinking I want to start a whole new blog about gardening and CSAs and vegetable gardening with pre-schoolers, which I’ll be doing with Sam and Robby’s school this spring. But I feel like most gardening blogs are written by people who actually know what they are doing and are there as a resource for others who are like me. I can’t say mine would be much a resource to anyone.

Nor is there much reason to think I would post any more often than I already am. So then I’d have two poorly attended blogs . . . I’ve just had an aversion to sitting in front of screens lately. It’s not just the blog; I haven’t been watching TV either. Oh, except for when Michael Pollan was on Oprah last week - that was awesome.

Does anyone have any advice about this? Do you care to see gardening and food-related posts on this blog? Or do you agree that they don’t really fit? Does it even matter?

For now I think I’ll hold on my post about indoor winter gardening and see what the response is on this. Hey, for someone who rarely posts, having the option of turning one post into two is a pretty good deal.

Alas, I only had my camera phone. But I forced us all outside the other day. The doldrums of staying in were too much. Had to go slide around on the ice. Had to get some air.

For more shots of Winter, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Listen to the sounds of silence, people. There are no children in my house. Notta one. I can’t remember the last time I was in this house alone. I honestly don’t know that it has ever happened, come to think of it. I hear only the new Vampire Weekend album I just downloaded for four bucks.

Oh, and I keep imagining I am hearing one of my children yelling. I expect to look out the window and see that Robby has escaped from his second day of pre-school and walked home. But so far I am still alone in the house and there has been no phone call stating that I must come and retrieve my inconsolable, screaming child.

He had his first day last week and did well. I could tell by the way he was acting that he wanted to have fun, but had to play it up while I was there. It sounds like I was right; as soon as I left he was happy and played for the rest of the morning. Then school was canceled on Friday because there was ONE INCH of snow. I will refrain from comment.

Today there was a quick field trip to a local market, which I attended, and then walked him back to class, where he said bye several times and then settled in to play.

I could get used to this - both kids at school twice a week. Intriguing. What to do with myself?

I know I should be productive, and I had several errands that needed to be completed. But I tell you what, as soon as I got out of the school without incident I just ran straight home. Half of my coffee was sitting here waiting for me, just where I left it, and here I sit . . .

We’ve had a lot of discussion of this topic around here lately. My husband makes me reveal my favorite book and favorite movie of the year every single New Year’s Eve - it’s something I just had to accept when I married him.

But this year I had the added challenge of coming up with the best of the decade and have been debating potential films to be put on this list and their various merits and faults. So here’s mine. The top 25 movies of the decade, in “sort of” order, and in what I like to think is a nice balance of movies that I simply really enjoyed and those that were superbly done. It’s a nice balance of genres too, if I do say so myself.

1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

2. Pride and Prejudice (2005)

3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

4. Amelie

5. Avatar

6. Wall-E

7. March of the Penguins

8. Little Miss Sunshine

9. The Royal Tenenbaums

10. Love, Actually

11. Winged Migration

12. Signs

13. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

14. Eastern Promises or A History of Violence. I’m having trouble deciding but know that I need more Viggo Mortenson on this list because I bear much, MUCH love for him.

15. Best In Show (although Waiting For Guffman will always be my favorite of this group, but alas, 1996)

16. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

17. Whale Rider

18. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

19. House of Flying Daggers

20. Gangs of New York

21. Stranger Than Fiction

22. My Big Fat Greek Wedding OR Bridget Jones’s Diary. Again, movies I just loved despite their many flaws.

23. Gladiator

24. The Village

25. The Matrix: Revolutions

Additions and omissions? What say you? And Fight Club was 1999, unfortunately.

Could be like yesterday, then 2010 will be a great year.

Ok, I just had a lot of trouble typing that number. How strange. How awkward. 2010. Almost mistyped it again.

We spent the day home for the most part, with the exception of a trip to the comic book store so the boys could spend their bit of Christmas money on superheroes. They love them, but the house is now being terrorized by that menace, “Lex Loofah!” (I refuse to correct them on this.)

Of course, my husband is giddy as he watches his boys fall in love with something so close to his heart - you’ve seen his comics blog, yes? And I got a kiss for being able to name every character to which the logos on the awning of the store corresponded. Hey, there were eight of them, and I even knew Thor and Green Lantern, with his weird circle between two lines motif. I rocked it.

We showed the boys a few scenes from the Superman movie (only where he flies and rescues people. And when he lifts the car as a boy.) and we both got a bit choked up over their excitement. Move over Lightning McQueen, I think you may have been replaced by something bigger and better, faster and stronger. And oh, Christopher Reeve, how I love you.

It was warm and sunny enough to get out in the garden and tie up a few loose ends. We had what remained of the salad greens for lunch. I still have cherry tomatoes coming in on my plant in the greenhouse. I’m running a little experiment to see how long it will live.

I made a big feast of cider chicken and potatoes last night. We busted out the nice plates. Hubby and I had our New Year’s Day mimosas. Sam even ate his chicken.

It was a good start.

This morning the fire is going. My coffee is especially good. And this morning I found out a friend has had a healthy baby girl, born January 1, 2010. So if I have to be up right now, I suppose this is the best way to do it.

Happy 2010.