February - a Mixed Bag

What a month this has been. Surgery for my dad, a death in the family, the sudden shadow of cancer swooping down to hover over another family member - all these have made for many stressful days.

But February wasn't all bad. Mr. M celebrated a birthday this month, which is a Good Thing (even at our age). Warm weather and an early thaw allowed me to take my first-ever Wisconsin February bike ride. Another first: having a magazine article published this month. For these things I am very grateful.

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Speaking of February and bike rides.... The weather must have been delighted by our enthusiastic response to the warm spell of ten days ago, for it decided to offer a repeat performance the following weekend.

Another sunny Saturday in the 50s was an opportunity too good to pass up:

Sunny Saturday

The warm weekend temperatures lasted well into Sunday, though the sun had disappeared behind a heavy layer of cloud. By late Sunday afternoon the mercury was dropping again, but this didn't stop Tallulah and me from taking another ride.

Cloudy Sunday

A cold wind hissed over the still-frozen marshes, where red-twig dogwood hinted at a colourful spring to come:

Iris the bike leaning against a rusty bridge rail:

Tallulah thought she had found a petrified turtle, but it was only a bolt after all:

By the time we finished our ride, the temperature had dropped from 52 to 36 (F), with a shrieking northwest wind spitting a fine, frozen rain in our faces. And that was the end of February's second warm spell.

As I write this post on Monday night, snow is beginning to fall; the forecast is for 2 to 5 inches by morning. But winter's back is already broken: the ground is thawing; green grass is beginning to appear; the wild geese and sandhill cranes are returning by twos and threes. There are even rumours of robin sightings. It looks as though spring might be early this year.

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Happy Leap Day to you! And may March be better than February.

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