It’s Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year)! 2023 is the year of the Water Rabbit. Interestingly so was the year Chris was born. To say our signs are diametrically opposed would be a gross understatement as I was born in the year of the Fire Rooster! Opposites attract?

But since we’re still going strong after thirty years – April 30 will be the 29th anniversary of our wedding(!), I guess we’ve proven the point. Opposites not only attract, but in our case our disparate strengths complement each other! Our wedding theme was Looney Tunes, so this seems utterly apropos! ⬇️

My inner Fire Rooster was happily ensconced in my library, warmed by the fire snapping & crackling in the Tulikivi as we await the promised wintry mix! As I re-read “Seeing Trees” I came across a fun factoid I had missed before! If a redbud blossom is turned on its side it looks like a hummingbird, albeit a pepto-bismal pink hummingbird, but clearly a hummingbird nonetheless!

I added that note to the redbud page in my nature journal! At our little slice of heaven, five acres along the Mechums river in Batesville, I have so far identified: 6 mushrooms; 10 vines & ferns; 12 shrubs; 16 mammals; 16 reptiles & amphibians; 32 trees; 50 birds; 66 insects and 68 wildflowers!

The new year has begun. In a couple days we’ll welcome Juliette & Michaels baby girl Olivia Rose! The wheel of life rolls on, time marches forward.

A subtle chain of countless rings

The next unto the farthest brings;

The eye reads omens where it goes,

And speaks all languages the rose;

Ralph Waldo Emerson