Winter's Back! (for the moment)

January was an interesting month. Mr. M and I came down with something that looked like flu and felt like flu, but didn't test positive for flu. For a couple of weeks we lived on cough drops and water and oranges and chicken broth. (It's true what they say about chicken broth - it really does make you feel better. Especially when you pour it over fresh minced garlic, then sprinkle with a little cayenne.)

The January weather had a severe case of multi-seasonal disorder. One day would be chilly, with a dusting of snow; the next the temp would bounce up to 40 and everything would melt off. Then another dusting followed by another temperature jump. Snow, melt, repeat. Thinking spring was upon us, the trees budded out, only to have their dawning hopes crushed by the mercury's recurring plunge.

The melty-refreezy action resulted in more than one episode of treacherous ice under new snow. Ice that could make a person slip and fall, and maybe sprain a wrist if they landed on it wrong. I name no names.

February seems more inclined to behave itself. Last weekend the temperatures dropped in a determined manner, and a steady snow fell from Friday through Sunday. Winter has staged a comeback.

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Late on Sunday afternoon, Tallulah and I walked out to see what we could see.

Snow cupped in a tiny nest above our heads:

Queen Anne's Lace holding spiky little hands to the sky:

Chocolate-coloured blossoms bearing tiny seeds:

A Favourite Tree, its dark branches outlined with white:

Turtle, meet samara:

(Tallulah's looking a bit grubby, and no wonder. She's put in a lot of miles riding point on my bike. Perhaps a gentle bath is in order.)

The snow is (finally!) deep enough to swallow every step:

Lacy dried blossoms dot the edge of a field:

Knapweed. I think

A lone flower in a sea of snow:

Enticing view of a wintry path:

Tallulah looks into the small abyss of a decaying post ("I like to live on the edge," she remarks):

An eastern horizon turning to rose:

Clumps of snow seeming to float in a brushy twilit wood:

The sun has sunk below the horizon. It's time to follow our footsteps home.

The Favourite Tree now stands guard over a shadowed field:

Then home, to yarn and hook and a warm refuge from the wind.

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Speaking of yarn and hook, here's a glimpse of a free pattern I hope to post this weekend:

How's your February going?

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