I love February! Do you?
Hal Borland, editorial writer for The New York Sunday Times from 1942 to 1970, and one of my favorite nature writers described this short month beautifully....
Here comes February, a little girl with her first valentine, a red bow in her wind-blown hair, a kiss waiting on her lips, a tantrum just back of her laughter. She is young as a kitten, changeable as the wind, and into everything. She can sulk, she can beam, she changes from one minute to the next...
February is soup and mittens, and it is a shirt-sleeve day that demands an overcoat before sundown. It is forsythia buds opening in the house and skid chains clanking on the highway. February is sunrise at 6:30 for the first time since November.
February is a gardener pruning his grape vines today and shoveling a two-foot drift off the front walk tomorrow morning. It is a farmer wondering this week if his hay will last the Winter, and next week wondering if he should start plowing. It is tiny catkins on the alder in the swamp and skunk cabbage thrusting a green sheath up through the ice. February is the tag end of Winter--we hope. But in our hearts we know it isn't Spring, not by several weeks and at least a dozen degrees.
Hal Borland, 1900-1978
Is it just me or do you love to greet February too?
What an apt description of February. Here in western PA we know that February is just another month of winter as we can have vicious snow storms in March. But with global warming our winters have no been bad and I am trying to have patience in my waiting for spring. I love your photo by the way!
ReplyDeletePeggy, I wonder if we would love Spring so much if we didn't have winter first? Of course, that's easy for me to say--I don't live in your part of the country and that might make a difference.
DeleteLove those words by Hal Borland - and I love February - a warmer than cold February is my favorite. Down where I use to live February is a beautiful month just like January - the citrus groves are producing their fruit and the fragrance is in the air. Just writing that makes me want to take a ride down ...and we are going to because Sueprbowl Sunday is at our son's down the mountain and we will be going there. Happy February to you.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that amazing? Go down the mountain and it's citrus groves and up the mountain to snow!
DeleteI love his words! And February is one of my favorite months - the month of my birthday! And the light in February can be the most beautiful of the year.
ReplyDeleteNan, I agree, the light of February is something beautiful to behold!
Deletewhat a beautiful and true description of February! and she is like a precocious and changeable little girl! she flirts with Spring and then delivers the crisp cold of Winter. parts of our state may see 80 degrees today they say. in JANUARY!!! and we've been warned of an arctic front next week. ah well. we February lovers understand! xo
ReplyDeleteYes, Tam! Never boring, unlike the ongoing heat we had through October this past year that I thought would never end.
DeleteA beautiful and insightful description of February, Dewena and I love your artsy pic.
ReplyDeleteHere, on the island, February is fickle, as well. It was 16°C/60.8°F yesterday, sunny and bright (perfect BBQ weather), and for the first time, I could 'smell' spring in the air and it is supposed to be even warmer on Wednesday, but Thursday we're expecting rain and cold, dropping to 46°F. We need the rain, so it will be welcomed.
On sunny days, the constant buzz of electric saws pruning grape trunks and branches sounds like a swarm of bees circling the house! I can hear the farmers' voices in the distance, shouting over all the action, eager to complete their tasks before siesta.
And speaking of 'buzz', I'm curious, do you make an amorous fuss on Valentine's Day?
Have a great week!
Poppy xx
Poppy, you made me hear your electric buzz of bees and the farmers voices! As far as amorous fuss? The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, or maybe just old? Is affectionate fuss okay?
DeleteI don't mean to burst your pretty February bubble, my sweet friend, but no, I don't like February. It's another month of long, cold, gray, dreary days here...seems like they will never end and spring will never come. Cabin fever really and truly sets in! I will be more glad to see the calendar turn to March, as that month starts to give us some hope. In the meantime, I cheer up the house a little bit with pretty Valentine's Day decor.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't burst my bubble, Melanie, I understand your winter is a lot more wintery and longer than ours!
DeleteOh, I loved these passages, Dewena! Hal Borland was born in Nebraska and grew up in eastern Colorado. His books "High Wide and Lonesome," and "Country Editor's Boy" are wonderful memoirs of his years on the eastern plains. I've visited the location of the family homestead. Amazing that people could make a living there. Now, I'm going to have to put those books back on my pile to re-read. It's like wanting to go visit an old friend again and reminisce, re-reading favorites.
ReplyDeleteThat's fascinating, Karen! And then he became a New Englander. I learned a lot about him from a friend of ours who is his nephew. Small world. When I learned that his uncle was the Hal Borland and didn't have any of his books I gave him two of mine but kept the one that is a day book of entries. I also used to have one of his wife's gardening books. And Borland was also a good friend of dear Gladys Taber.
DeleteI would love to visit his homestead!
It's a month God gave us, so I know I should be thankful... I would like to go to Hawaii and be thankful there for the month of February. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, Gretchen. My husband feels that way too, anywhere with a beach to lie on. While I'm all lovely lovely February.
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