Sunday, 02/23/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:31 a.m., under cloudy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 25°. The sunset will occur at 5:27.
We woke up this morning with temperatures in the mid-twenties, and if you are keeping track, it genuinely felt like a heat wave when we hit the front porch. The last day of week 9 started with a “feels-like” temperature of 2°, and the 23° temperature swing was palpable. Pre-dawn Sunday mornings, especially at 5:00 in the morning, are probably our favorite mornings; quiet roads, silent birds, and heavy moisture-laden clouds combine for an especially tranquil start to any day. We lingered on the porch over coffee, Alice snoring softly as I spoke to myself out loud about the to-do list in preparation for Emma’s return, and spent the bulk of the day fervently avoiding any actions that remotely resembled physical labor beyond the bare necessities of putting the place back together before the sisters would have their Monday reunion that inevitably destroys any of the work that preceded it.
Observation of the day:
Strenuous physical labor is sometimes necessary, but a sense of urgency to perform it is not.
Monday, 02/24/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:30 a.m., under cloudy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 25°. The sunset will occur at 5:28.
In many ways, it was a duplicate of yesterday. Weather-wise, it felt like a typical Sunday morning because “February vacation” in public schools officially got underway today. The roads were quiet, the air was still, and it was warm enough to linger on the porch and enjoy the peace and quiet not normally available on a Monday morning. Outdoor time with the girls, always good for a few belly laughs, was prolonged each of the times we went out so they could burn off a little steam and I could get some fresh air and time away from the computer. With the forecast promising warmer temperatures as the week progresses, we can smell in the air that the climate is slowly transitioning away from what we’ve been enduring for the last nine-plus weeks.
Observation of the day:
Change you can’t control is better embraced than resisted.
Tuesday, 02/25/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:27 a.m., under cloudy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 37°. The sunset will occur at 5:30.
Another overcast morning greeted us when we hit the front porch, but the incredibly warmer, more humid air was a pleasant change of pace. The weekly forecast had warned us that warmer temperatures were coming, but it said nothing about preparing for an almost overnight explosion of the full-throated bird population that was waiting for us atop the wire across the street from the house. We had heard the occasional crow in treetops near the house, but the full symphony of several different types of birds singing together was something to behold. As pleasant as it was to my ears as I listened to the early sounds of the fledgling spring season starting to wake up, most pleasing to my eyes was watching Alice snap her head up, down, left, and right as she tried to make sense of it all. Winter is by no means done with her work, but her generosity in giving us a sneak peek of what awaits us once she has finished her work for the season was not lost on either one of us.
Observation of the day:
Appreciating a thing you can’t see yet know, all the same, is somewhere nearby, is made all the easier when you wait for it to find you.
Wednesday, 02/26/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:26 a.m., under clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 37°. The sunset will occur at 5:31.
Even as we found joy in the warmer temperatures of the last several days, the return of the big yellow orb in the sky and its accompanying warmth gave the girls plenty to be happy about. Temperatures weren’t much more than 40°, but the Sun made it feel much warmer than that, and sunset was worth every second we spent watching it retreat into the Western skies. Yard time was frantic, nap time was deep and refreshing, and just about every aspect of the day tasted ever so much sweeter.
Observation of the day:
It’s not how we spend our day that matters nearly so much as it is how we remember having spent it.
Thursday, 02/27/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:24 a.m., under snowy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 32°. The sunset will occur at 5:32.
As promised by the weather app, me and Alice were greeted with a mix of snow and rain when we opened the door and went out into the yard well before Sunrise. Because temperatures were right around freezing, given how accustomed we have become to much colder temperatures with strong winds, it actually felt a little balmy, comparatively speaking. We were perfectly content to have coffee on the porch and watch Winter’s handiwork unfold as the darkness faded to light with the rising of the Sun. Needless to say, another indoor day was on the menu because of the sloppy conditions in the yard, but the snow that was supposed to stop at sunrise lingered well into mid-morning, offering huge snowflakes that melted almost immediately after hitting the ground. The girls had already opened the curtain so they could watch it and bark at every single dog that came and went with their humans up and down the sidewalk, but the whole experience made for great entertainment as I watched them split their time between barking at the outside world and dive bombing each other off and on throughout the day.
Observation of the day:
Of all the things that can be fairly said about Winter in the Northeast, she truly is a lot like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.
Friday, 02/28/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:23 a.m., under clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 34°. The sunset will occur at 5:34.
It was a beautiful start to the day, being able to look at clear skies while the Sun was coming up behind us in the east. Temperatures were just enough above freezing that me and Alice were able to listen over coffee to the percussion sounds coming from water dripping off the roof of the porch onto her upside-down summertime miniature pool. The girls are getting a little bit more yard time each day now that the ice and snow have begun melting enough to allow for my safer travel out in the yard with them. Despite clouds having started to move in later in the day, there was a decent sunset for us to enjoy as we basked in the warmth of mid-40-degree temperatures.
Observation of the day:
While it is true that seasons come and go, and each of them brings with them very different flavors of Chaos, it is likewise true that understanding these transitions makes for a calm and humble embrace of them.
Saturday, 03/01/2025:
Sunrise was at 6:21 a.m., under clear skies with a slight breeze, and the temperature was 32°. The sunset will occur at 5:35.
Today is my 67th birthday, and Alice was so excited she simply would not allow me to sleep past 4:30 a.m. As much as I appreciated the face bath, I would have definitely much preferred being allowed to sleep in rather than being forced out of bed by unbridled canine joy for life in general and pre-dawn enthusiasm in particular. Alas, this was not the way she intended me to start the day. The forecast called for 50° temperatures and a mixture of snow and rain… A curious identity crisis of Mother Nature’s Winter season. Knowing that the extended forecast for next week includes both 20° temperatures and 60° temperatures makes it obvious that she is finally ready to retire from the Northeast and move on to wherever it is she goes when her work here is done. We aren’t getting ahead of ourselves because she has been known to come back, so it’s not quite time to mothball the winter attire.
Observation of the day:
Birthdays may mark the passage of time, but they can never fully measure the relationship between the numbers as they climb and your shock at having survived so many yet still find yourself able to continue counting.
Weekly PostScript:
It has been a bittersweet week; I published last week’s Journal entry very late Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, I received notice that my best friend of 2 1/2 decades had passed quietly and peacefully around 10:00 p.m. the night before. I spent this week staying faithful to the Hibernal Journal project (he would have fussed at me if I hadn’t), but throughout the week I got lost in thought and reflection about our years together and how I wanted to celebrate his life and his memory for the benefit of myself, his friends and family, and the internet world of which – in his space – he was a well-known and outspoken figure. That this week’s Journal entry will go live on my birthday, a week to the day since his passing, is a bit surreal, but at the same time, it seems perfectly timed to allow for him to be remembered publicly for each of my readers to know just how much of our friendship influenced all the writing we did together (two and a half books, countless essays, and 6 years of weekly 2-hour phone calls). It’s going to be a long time before I’m not in a panic at 9:55 a.m. on a Thursday because I haven’t gathered all the material I was supposed to before our weekly call.
R.I.P. My good friend Vassar “Pete” Bushmills.
