Christmas is weeks past and there are still a few reminders hanging around waiting to be put away, but like dust on my furniture, they’ve been around for so long I hardly notice them. After the holidays, I just had no oomph left to do anything about either. Sigh. I’m in the Doldrums.

Like many another scion of Celtic forebears, I celebrate the arrival of the Winter Solstice; like many another gardener, I rejoice in the coming of the coldest, darkest days of the year. To be sure, I complain about the cold, lament the lack of sunlight, and crave the warm sunny days of summer still to come. I, too, succumb to the impulse to start fresh, begin the New Year with great intentions . . . all of which I fully intend to begin once the spring warmth arrives.

In the colder months of the year we can enjoy the evergreen shrubs and trees in our landscapes and muted colors of sky, grass and clouds. The marsh is golden, and fields of wildflowers and grasses are tan and brown.