Hello, all, and welcome to a new solar year!  (Or, the fourteenth b'ak'tun, if you're so inclined.)

It's been a long, dry few years here in Texas, and my garden hasn't fared well, but I think the drought has finally run its course (knock wood). I lost the large hedge in front of the house and the bamboo on two sides of the back yard before it was over, but the bamboo is now making a comeback and so am I.

The Lady Banks rose is still taking over in the front, and my Pink Iceberg is doing well, too. The little Bridal Wreath Spirea has bloomed each spring, regardless of the heat and arid weather. The volunteer native lantanas are hanging in there, and look like they're ready to stage a new attempt at world domination come spring. I've also got a little potted strawberry papaya on my back porch, a freebie from the Horticulture Department at the Uni where I work. It's not the ideal weather around here for a papaya, but it seems to be doing well if a little frost scorched in places. I'm dragging it in every night when it gets too cold.

On a more personal note, I finished my graduate program last December and have found gainful employment as an archaeologist over the past year. Score one for Right Livelihood. In January, I'll be sending in the last bits of my application to the PhD. program at the University of Calgary. I'm very excited about that.

I have a lot of plans for my garden for the coming year or two (assuming I'm not in Canada by next August). I'm collecting stepping stones and flagstones to make a labyrinth in the back yard, and have been eyeing small chicken coops online. I've also found plans for a small earth oven that looks like it might be just the right size for my little back yard. Over the next couple of months I'm going to take advantage of the sad condition of the front lawn to get rid of it entirely and sow wild flower seeds.

In the meantime, I'm doing some hiking around the area and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. The photos I'm adding to this post aren't from my garden this year, but from some of my hikes in the area around.  I'll have more photos of the garden over the next few weeks, I hope.