“JANUARY,

The first month of the year,

A perfect time to start all over again,

Changing energies and deserting old moods,

New beginnings, new attitudes”

― Charmaine J Forde

"January is the quietest month in the garden. ... But just because it looks quiet doesn't mean that nothing is happening. The soil, open to the sky, absorbs the pure rainfall while microorganisms convert tilled-under fodder i​nto usable nutrients for the next crop of plants. The feasting earthworms tunnel along, aerating the soil and preparing it to welcome the seeds and bare roots to come."

- Rosalie Muller Wright, Editor of Sunset Magazine, 1/99

 "We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives . . . not looking for flaws, but for potential." ―Ellen Goodman

"The first day of January always presents to my mind a train of very solemn and important reflections and a question more easily asked than answered frequently occurs viz: How have I improved the past year and with [what] good intentions do I view the dawn of its successor?" ―Charlotte Brontë

"There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogues."

- Hal Borland

The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather we may look forward to in January and February, at least we notice that the days are getting longer. Minute by minute they lengthen out. It takes some weeks before we become aware of the change. It is imperceptible even as the growth of a child, as you watch it day by day, until the moment comes when with a start of delighted surprise we realize that we can stay out of doors in a

twilight lasting for another quarter of a precious hour."

- Vita Sackville-West