Trees of December 26

The theme for this month, just in case it has escaped your notice, is trees. The idea was to celebrate the trees as we see them during this month, the last of the year and the month in which, at least here in the mid Atlantic region of the USA, farewell the autumn season and begin winter.

But the weather has been a little wacky. Here we are having unseasonably warm temperatures.

On my outdoors walking route I am seeing cherry trees like this one blooming.

The hellebore is in bud already which is weeks ahead of previous years.

Out in the front garden beds the daffodils are 3" high already.

And on the front porch the (tropical) hibiscus is still blooming - I moved it next to the Christmas tree to highlight the oddity.

A self seeded viola has grown enough already to bloom...

Truly though I have had difficulty coming up with the enthusiasm to even put this post together after I have looked at the news stories for the day:

In Victoria, Australia, where I lived in the late 1990s, they have begun the bushfire season with horrid fires along the Great Ocean Road resulting in more than 100 homes being burnt to the ground and families having to evacuate on Christmas Day. I hope my friends there are safe.

In northern England, where my maternal grandparents emigrated from, there has been such a deluge of rain that rivers have burst their banks, property damage is widespread and the authorities have had to issue the highest level of alert which means the potential for loss of life is imminent.

Southern California is in the midst of wildfires.

So I guess I should be grateful for the beauty that is appearing in my garden.

And the ability to look at views such as that below which is what I expect to see at this time of year.

Maybe December 28 will be better.