February 16

By midday, under clear skies, the sun had warmed the air temperature into the upper 40s, and with only a hint of a breeze it felt warm out. It is a relative warm, of course. I think about this notion, when the sultry days of summer stretch one hazy day into the next. I play the game, thinking of coming cooler weather, imagining it to be 50 degrees, if only for an instant – to break the hold of the summer swelter.

40s for an afternoon in summer would feel like ice against our bodies, whereas today under the sunny skies it is a delight. No need to pretend of moments of summer warmth to ease the cold stretch. Nature has released her grip, if only for a day or so.

The snow melts in earnest, and even the dormant grass is showing in spots that didn’t drift too deeply from the storm of last week. Small rivulets of melt water create little rivers on the driveway, pooling into small puddles in the low spots near the grass edge. There they will endure, until evaporation, for though it is indeed warm, the ground remains frozen just below. Water must wait to seep into the Earth.