The January yard.  Grasses is at it's peak brown, few things are growing, although the Spanish needles seem to thrive.  There is some grass greening up, but there just hasn't been the rain to support growth.  Last week I noticed that lots of little things were sprouting because of the heavy morning dew.  But that will be a few weeks or more before it starts to really show.  Marcela has begun her second semester of graduate school and I am underway with an organic garden project at the nearby elementary school.  We both have piles of work to do, but take a few hours each weekend to keep the yard clean and get some extra projects completed.  We raked the whole back yard Friday and Saturday.  No small task.  We take the piles by wheel barrow to the base of the eucalyptus tree where we pile it to break down.  Marcela pulled the three oleander trees that died in the transplant last spring or summer.  Something else is growing out there now, woody and oak-like, but not necessarily an oak.  Last year we put seeds from the beach sunflower and gaillarda in our native garden at school.  They have grown into quite a tangle of sunflowers and gaillarda blooms, as you can see.  I trimmed the sunflowers back to the brick face perimeter of
the garden we had laid out.  Three of the plants had volunteered in one of the empty pots next to the garden.  We put those in the ground in the front strip near the street.  At the back of the garden here are some red flowering plants whose name I forget.  These have grown very well.  We had to trim them back a little bit so that they did not fall under their own weight.  We also cut down a couple of oak frames to frame two paintings that the kids did last year.  Marcela bought a canvas and gave them a lesson and they went to work.  She wants them framed and hung on the wall.  Step one is almost completed.  The kids are happy to be back to school after three weeks away and a long drive around New England.  Maxim was allowed to play offense during her soccer game yesterday and managed to kick three goals.  Noah was on his usual tear.  We are visiting friends for dinner tonight, but both working on school work while the kids play quietly.  DeMarco, Noah best friend next door, is over and they play light sabers in the back yard.  Maxim has her animals set up on the floor of her bed room.  One day rest before school starts again.  The weather is delightful.