a string of February days

In a sense, they are alike: pretty days, with February skies of gentle blue, or sometimes with wisps of cloud clover. Like this morning, for instance. Looking out the upstairs window, at sunrise:






And soon after, seeing that blue over the barn and sheep shed.





There's a winter nip in the air, that's for sure. Oh, they talk about a warm up, but it's followed by a cool down, then a warm up, even though it really feels like winter and that's okay, because, after all, we're still in the middle of February.

If I had classes to teach, I would worry about keeping warm and dressing well each day, but since I stay at the farmhouse all day long, I reach for my standard warm shirts and sweatpants and that's about as much thought that I give to any of it.

Sunday is, as usual, the day we clean the farmhouse. This marks my week for me now. We better not change that routine --  I would grow very confused as to which day of the week we're in!

After, there is the breakfast. All about granola these days.






And later, we go out for a walk. Yes, we could have skied, but the walk was easy and the light was bright and so we just set out -- as we usually do, up the road, onto the scenic one and back again.






When I mentioned retirement in my last months of teaching, many people asked how I would possibly manage all those winter days at home. Sure, there's farmette work in the spring and summer and yes, there is always travel, but the winter is long and the days are cold! How about all those dark days of the difficult season? Well now, however long it takes for spring to get here, one thing remains infallible: the days do get longer. All winter long they get longer and longer and the bright light gets more pronounced and if I had a hundred more days like thi, I would be fine.

Sunday supper. Olympics in the background. Thoughts of winter still. Snow tomorrow.





That's February for you.