The news. My stars. But I feel I owe it to my country to know what is being done in our name on our dime and to speak up.

I decided to go look at something else.

The recent rains did their winter magic: there is green sprouting across the yard and, walking off to the right, the Meyer lemons are ripe and vivid yellow against the deep green leaves and perfect. When have they looked like that! Wow!

Oh wait. The cataract surgery: I can see them as they appear–for the first time in years. At a time when the other trees are standing there bare, look how gorgeous the colors of that lemon are! Cool!

Heading back towards the door, I saw the pot.

I figure critters prefer planting things in pots than in the ground because the soil is a lot easier to dig into, but why do they always go for the edges? Never ever the center. Okay, scrub jays, they perch on the rims and lean over towards their feet, but what’s a squirrel’s excuse?

About the width of a cherry tomato away from this seedling was a cluster of six or seven all sprouting together.

In January. Outside. I love California.

I’ve learned that newly sprouted tomato plants don’t thrive if you pull them out to replant them no matter how gently you do it, nor would that competitive cluster fighting each other’s roots come to much, so they’re gone now and the one that was growing by itself has the whole pot to itself. I will soak it to help hold the soil closely together around it when I move the lot of it into something bigger and then keep it as I found it, frost-free under the awning and close to the warm house for now.

It’s definitely got a head start on the brand new year. I can’t yet know if its fruit will offer the sweetness of what I planted last year but it’s veggies and it’ll be nourishing and I’m willing to put in the effort to find out. Spring offering itself in early January, how could I not.