WILD, DARK DAYS of FEBRUARY

"Come now the wild dark days of February when the house seems like a lovely warm little island with winter billowing outside.

Pipes freeze and get thawed out, and there is a sense of victory. The current goes off, and we move dinner hastily to the coal range or hang it over the fireplace in the old black kettle.

In February, after a big storm, the sun comes out with more brightness that at any other time in the year. The winter sky is pale and far away and the snow is the essence of all the white there is.

The glory of the sun, with the pale sky and the white snow, is breathtaking. The light has a purity, a dazzling serenity. I like to go out then, and walk up to the mailbox. How beautiful is the world! How fortunate we are, in spite of everything, to feel the infinite splendor of a day after storm!

The most beautiful snowstorm is the one that comes when the air is relatively mild and the big wet flakes cling to every twig and branch. The trees change to silver and the fields are a soft white sea.

And the gift of quietness is given, for there is no stillness so pure and deep as the stillness of snow. Sounds sink without a ripple in that silence . . ."

from STILLMEADOW SEASONS by Gladys Taber
© photo by Greg Gawlowski