Hello, on this 6th day of 2014.  I'll just take a moment to share the situation here, while all of the US midsection, the east coast, large parts of the UK are suffering with the extreme cold.

Awoke this morning to find the sky clear blue, vacant of cloud and.....

only the Lady, Mt. Amiata, wearing a mantle of fluff....sun everywhere....

The garden is bathed in sun, surprisingly warm....

the huge scented geranium waiting its turn to be trundled into the winter greenhouse...

Artichokes beginning and a few sage leaves that will be fried for dinner tonight....

The few winter lettuces and the startling, tall red-flowered pineapple sage, left, bask a bit in the sun after our heavy rains of a few days ago....

And the fava bean plants hold promise for spring.  Eaten fresh from the cottony pods, eaten raw with a fragment of aged pecorino and a tad of salt....essence of spring...

MGH