The trees offer bare branches up to the skies and the sun has shortened her stay each day. And although I awake in the dark and put dinner on the table in the dark- my garden has not not entirely given up. In fact, I still have mandevillas blooming on the back patio- as we roll into Thanksgiving! It is a little crazy. But this may be the week I make my final tomato and tomatillo harvest and pull the plants. It’s just too depressing to look at a half-living garden.

We have had a few cold evenings, a few cold enough to warrant covering the faucets and a few select plants in plastic sheeting. It only takes one cold night to turn a verdant patch into a nearly brown one. I brought all the cold sensitive potted plants indoors at least a month ago. Each year I bring them in and watch them cycle through their plant-depression. The lemon tree begins with a burst of fragrant blooms as she believes she has just moved to some new tropical zone. With no pollinators in the house, I get busy with a q-tip or paint brush. I go from blossom to blossom with the precious yellow pollen and think of the summer bees with yellow fuzzy legs heavy from pollen. It will be next spring before the slow-growing Meyer lemons will be ready to pluck- but they are worth the wait.

After this enthusiastic burst of blooms, the plant will realize that life indoors is just not the same. The light is weak and sparse. Leaves will begin to curl and drop. Usually I have to stave off an invasion of whitefly. I feel her pain.

I miss bright hot summer days- long days! My rhythm is off in the winter. Like my lemon “bush,” I bounce from highly to productive to sad and drooping. Although, perhaps this winter will be different. I have hit a stride with my art… I am creating in multiple platforms daily and enjoying my progress. So much so that often other things- like laundry and housekeeping- suffer. The holidays are looming over me and I know I need to tend to shopping and cooking lists, and perhaps some holiday decor. But I am too distracted with creating art that would be great on holiday cards, gift wrapping, and home decor.

So- like the garden, I feel a little stuck between seasons right now. Which, is a good place to be stuck I suppose. I will keep creating between the moments.