Welcome, February! au revoir January

Despite a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, tomorrow is the day when Druids and others celebrate Imbolc, the festival of growing light. This week in the Northern hemisphere we'll reach a halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Doesn't it make you feel better to know that? Locally, we've gained almost an hour's worth of daylight since December's Solstice.

February: red-osier dogwood in front of tamaracks

Photo by J. Harrington

One of the signs of Winter's grip loosening that we begin to look for about this time of year is heightened color in Red-osier Dogwood branches. Even with "global warming," it would be a rare year that Minnesotans could see snow drops in bloom much before Spring Equinox. Soon, though, leaf buds on oak trees will begin to swell, dislodging the remaining leaves still clinging from last year.

In less than a month our normal daytime high temperatures should lead to thawing. We can almost hear the faint honks of returning Canada geese and the trumpets of sandhill cranes. That should help get us through the upcoming visit from a polar vortex.

A Celtic Miscellany

By Thomas McCarthy

Magic rain magic mist magic dew magic hail

Magic darkness magic sea magic waves magic

River magic fountain magic well magic spring

That bursts forth when a magic spear pierces

Rock magic oak tree magic ash magic lime tree

Magic bough magic yew magic hawthorn magic

Tree to make you young again magic tree to

Prevent hunger magic thorn magic ivy magic

Fern magic blossom, mistletoe and mandrake

Magic wild grasses magic wheat magic breath

Magic blood magic feather magic dung magic

Piss magic mantle magic trousers magic veil

Magic hat magic chain magic sword magic

Shield magic hearth magic bench magic door

Magic cry of a deer or cry of a magic deer;

Seven as a magic number magic the human

Head for divination magic also the head of

A dog, magic too vessels that burst in the fire

To uncover disobedience magic the river

That rises to drown liars magic the stone

That causes silence magic the deep lake

That causes forgetfulness magic the hazelnut

That makes a lover foolish magic the stone

That banishes sorrow magic the charm bought

Cheaply in the form of small poetry books,

Or nine the magic number and the magic

Number seven again and the magic twelve also

And green as that magic color violet as magic

Red as magic black as magic white as magic

Purple also as a magic hue and also red again;

Magic also the felling of two oak trees in a wood

And the magic wand used by the Druids to

Find your beloved carried away by fairies—

And, when all else fails, magic the new-fangled

Blessings of Christians swarming into our oak

Wood now, making even the disappeared speak.

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