It got cold last night. Not the California thin-blooded sissy kind of cold, but a true, below-freezing, red-nosed, numb fingers and toes kind of cold. And a hard frost blanketed every surface with a miraculous iced-sugar coating. I crunched my way across the postage stamp “lawn” in our back garden to find the geum leaves crenellated like ruffled Jacobean collars:
![](https://www.julieturjoman.com/1bp/_2gKlLJTaYzA/SUmpl0MeeuI/AAAAAAAABbg/O2936U2g3xw/s320/Garden+in+December+2008+Hard+Frost+009.jpg)
And the pansies looking like sugared cake embellishments:
And heart-shaped violet leaves curling in on themselves at the base with a protective whorl, their deep burgundy color muted and hushed under the frost:
![](https://www.julieturjoman.com/2bp/_2gKlLJTaYzA/SUmoYf79sSI/AAAAAAAABa4/2rpSVYYNt0I/s320/Garden+in+December+2008+Hard+Frost+010.jpg)
Finished another holiday hat, for brother-in-law James. Although the colors are as vibrant as the ones in the last hat (the one I thought I was making for him until voted down by the other family members), this time they are blues and greens (and, okay, yes… I snuck in some purple and teal, but James really does like brights) instead of pinks and reds, and that makes all the difference according to my chief model and kibbitzer:
![](https://www.julieturjoman.com/2bp/_2gKlLJTaYzA/SUmoZM_e2kI/AAAAAAAABbI/a1nB-z-iLso/s320/holiday+hat+for+James+2008+006.jpg)
![](https://www.julieturjoman.com/3bp/_2gKlLJTaYzA/SUmoZbpabQI/AAAAAAAABbQ/Iko6G5gJLpE/s320/holiday+hat+for+James+2008+001.jpg)
Comments welcome