Thawing, Light, the Shapes of Things to Come

Clear blue sky, sunlight and snow receding in the woods… We are in the midst of a baffling, early January thaw here, and even the birds are confused by such unseasonal toings and froings.

Not so the pines and cedars and spruces in the woods. They still wear cornices of snow and sport throngs of dear little cones that will become whole forests of tiny evergreens next spring. As always, they are assisted in their journey to treehood by legions of village squirrels who shred the cones and scatter seed everywhere.

On our morning walk, I wore my waxed cotton canvas jacket with a sweater under it, and I was toasty warm. Beau actually declined to wear his parka, an unheard of state of affairs for January. The weather will not last of course, and we are surely in for icy cold and deep snow somewhere up the trail, but the light is returning by golly, and we can do this.