In January, and blooming again.

It is the end of January, and the twiggy bush out in the front planter area is blooming again.  In the dead of winter, this thing blooms, every year, like clockwork.  It's not drawn by warmth, as it is frequently below freezing here in this timeframe, yet it blooms.

Come summer, when it is covered in leaves curled and damaged by the aphids that will soon swarm it, it is an utterly unremarkable shrub.  Ugly even, by many standards, yet in winter it truly shines.

I think there is probably a lesson for us all, in that.