Yesterday leaving work, it was not cloudy, and there was still light in the sky. It reminded me of those first days in spring when the air smells warm. We’re not there yet, but I’ll take every reminder that the light and heat will return once again.
Between now and then, the landscape is changed by winter. The volumes of shoveled and plowed snow make a new terrain around sidewalks and roads. The city lights reflect peachy gray in the cloud cover that precedes a snow. You can see tracks of whose passed through the yard: the dog, rabbits, more rabbits, fat squirrels, us. It is stark and beautiful, especially now, at the earlier half of the season.
Talk to me in March, when it’s still cold, icy, and dark and the novelty of the winter landscape has warn thin. That’s when I envy family and friends in the southeast posting images of daffodils and cherry blossoms. I like to think that time, late-late-winter-cusp-of-spring, is what makes Wisconsinites appreciate the return of summer so much. Why so many people here spend as much time as possible “up north” in their cabins and in boats on lakes. It’s as if we’ve got to stock up on time outdoors in warm air.
Today I’m remembering that the light WILL return. But also that it will be a while so I best make peace with– and dress warmly to get outside in– the sparkling, stinging, cold land.
