January 2023

• January daffodils! Most people think of daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and flowering bulbs as harbingers of spring. [link to my Green Team talk from a few years ago.] I was a little surprised to wake up to this beautiful yellow display, and then I discovered I took almost the exact same picture almost exactly a year ago.

• Urban Wilderness Lectionary Project for January. I've been adding a header photo or art to each post.

• Epiphany House Blessing. During January 2021 I wrote about Epiphany / New Year Chalk House Blessings on Urban Wilderness. Paraphrased:

Blessing your house with chalk is a practice for New Year's Day, Epiphany, or any time. Chalk comes from the earth; it's a communication medium. Chalk can be part of play for almost any age. The inscription for this year is 20+C+M+B+23—the calendar year with CMB sandwiched in the middle. You can write above the door, beside the door, on the door, vertical or horizontal. You can bless the main entrance and/or separate rooms. If you have an office, workshop, or studio outside your home, you can bless those, too. We blessed the three doors that go inside from outside as well as each separate room.

CMB can stand for traditional magi names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, or it can be initials for Christus Mansionem Benedicat / May Christ Bless this House. Although Latin "house" is similar to English mansion for a huge dwelling or manse for the pastor's house, it doesn't imply large.

• Mid-January succulents