Imbolc -- tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first of three Spring festivals in the Druidic tradition. It is a time of melting (temperatures above freezing are forecast for Saturday, Sunday and Monday). In the British isles it's the time of the first appearance of snowdrops. Here in the North Country we won't look for snowdrops until some time in March. We will, however, be grateful to "Brighid, the Goddess of poets, healers and midwives" for the break we'll experience from the past few days temperatures of around -30℉ and wind chills between -50℉ and -60℉. We appear to have come through this polar vortex episode with only cosmetic damage. We hope you've fared as well and that we all continue to make it safely to and beyond the beginning of meteorological Spring on March 1 and Spring Equinox on March 20.

not snowdrops but a (non-native) Lenten rose in late March

Photo by J. Harrington

The birds and the local deer appear to have focused more on staying sheltered from the winds than on  getting food over the past day or so. Activity at the feeders has been limited. There's no indication any members of the infamous whitetail gang helped themselves to the sunflower seed feeder last night. We, on the other hand, have been enjoying hearty fare like homemade ham hash and a very robust beef stew. This afternoon we'll be baking a boule of artisan sourdough bread which will also help take some of the chill off the kitchen, dining and living rooms. Really severe cold spells like this occur regularly but rarely enough that we're not sure if they affect phenology and/or evolutionary adaptations or not. We think it's comparable to our inability, by definition, to plan for a black swan, but we're not really sure.

The Snowdrop

Anna Bunston De Bary

Close to the sod
   There can be seen
A thought of God
   In white and green.

Unmarred, unsoiled
   It cleft the clay,
Serene, unspoiled
   It views the day.

It is so holy
And yet so lowly.
   Would you enjoy
      Its grace and dower
   And not destroy
      The living flower?
Then you must, please,
Fall on your knees.

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