Finally some sun

Happily, it was sunny and dry today. Yesterday, too. Cloudy with intermittent sun was a lot better than the rain that was predicted for yesterday, and today was just plain nice late winter weather (for the Southeastern US), with a high around 50°F.

I saw a downy woodpecker foraging for breakfast on my morning walk.

It was definitely nice enough to find me tidying the garden shed, poking around the beds, and doing some weeding.

Amazingly, the squirrels had left just enough radicchio to harvest and try roasting with garlic, olive oil, and herbs. Yum. It was totally different than the bitter leaves of warmer weather, and well worth trying to protect from herbivory in future seasons.

I also saw a flock of robins mobbing the fruits of hollies this morning. There are lots of holly fruits this year, and we're seeing robins in exceptionally large numbers.

The newspaper yesterday had an El Nino story as well as a piece about how we've exceeded rain records for December and January. Hmm, that was obvious!

And just as I was about to finish doing a post yesterday evening, the power went out (with a sudden 'snap'), leaving us to find our bed by candlelight.

Power returned sometime after 11 pm; perhaps a tree fell, or a line broke. It reminded me to make sure we have more backup candles and matches...