February 1st

Now that January is over and done, with all the good, the interesting, the long, the gray, the adventurous, the wonderful moments that make up each day of that very wintry month, I expect to coast! Yes, I would love more snow. It cannot be that I will have skied only twice this whole winter! (Ed did better, since he skied in the week I was away.) But, too, I would love more of that cornflower sky that February typically brings us. Lily, my Massachusetts artist friend who unfortunately passed away recently, left behind a trail of wisdom and stardust and she always admonished me when I grumbled about February days. Look at the sky, she'd tell me. Just look at that faintly blue sky.

Perhaps in honor of Lily (who also liked to picnic outside on February 1st, every year, no matter what, well into her octogenarian age), February started off for us like this:

The misty blue sky came and went, all day, playing around with a cloud cover, as if in a contest as to who had more might, but I saw enough of the good stuff to remind me that gloomy days are fleeting.

And my basket of tulip bulbs kept on blooming...

As I did my usual read through the various news sources, I had to smile at an article appearing in the NYTimes today. The author suggested that it's worth spending 36 hours in a city that is often passed over by travelers. It was one of those times where in travel, someone out there is following my thought pattern because in fact, it is exactly where I am going soon, and for 36 hours no less! So I spent quite a bit of time thinking about it and reading more about this place that I in fact have never before visited.

The rest of the morning was spent on Zoom. Ed with his bon ami, me with mine.

And the kids came after school, and the sun came out again and the afternoon moved forward as if on autopilot.

There is no guilt to staying indoors on a sunny day. You still feel the same exuberance, the joy of watching the transformation outside from bleak to brilliant, without getting your shoes muddied in the melting slush in the process. 

It was, indeed, a very lovely day for us all.