HOW ARE YOU LIKING FEBRUARY?

If your answer is, "I'd rather be in Philadelphia," I'm sorry to say there's nothing to be done about that. Unless you want to do a little traveling. I'm not about to go any place at all any time soon--our recent delivery of 6-10 inches of snow (in my neighborhood it was only a little over 6 inches) didn't entice me out for any reason.

The neighbor's grandsons (ages 6 and 5), however, scaled the mountain of snow their grandpa had blown off the driveway--all they needed was a flag on a stick to plant in the top of the mound. Intrepid explorers!

My daughter reported roads were "good," which I took to mean they weren't any more dangerous than usual on snowy mornings. She travels a circuit to work at two or three post offices in our area.

I could handle the snow--after all, it's nice to look at from a warm room--but the thermometer readings--! Single digits held throughout the night and by yesterday morning the "high" for the day finally made it into the double digits, and then the lows--well, never mind. 

I dug out all my heavy sweatshirts--most of them are hoodies--and I wear them in the house, day and night, along with thick socks. The coffee maker is getting a workout. Soup is disappearing from the fridge and shelf so fast I'm wondering if we're feeding people I don't know about. (Maybe we're running a midnight soup kitchen.)

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What do I like about February?

Well, there's Valentine's Day. I got a valentine card--handmade--from my Ohio daughter whose church is doing various activities to stay connected with each other and with their families. I haven't had a valentine card in years, so that was a treat! Another treat--we ate the last two pieces of my birthday cake (carrot cake) which was just as delicious as it had been three weeks before, just as filling, and put on the regulation extra pound as it's required to do.

We celebrated President's Day, my in-house daughter and I, by taking my vehicle for service, then using her vehicle for errands--library, office supply store, and CPA's office to drop off my tax info. My daughter had the day off because she works for the Post Office. If I'd been doing all that on my own it wouldn't have happened; being with someone else distracted me from how danged cold it was, how strong the wind was, and how idiotic I was for being out in it.

February is Black History Month--first celebrated in 1970. Historian Carter G. Woodson had this to say about the need for recognition:

     If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. 

Out of Woodson's life and thought and desire were born what we celebrate as Black History Month, or African-American History Month. And as one comment I saw reminds us: We ought to think of this as a permanent celebration, not one month out of the year.

(Someone else said the same thing about Valentine's Day--expressing love for others isn't limited to one day and one card.)

Our family has some birthdays in February--daughter, daughter-in-law--and my quilting friend. 

Ash Wednesday arrived, heralding about six weeks of Lent. Which means, Easter is about six-plus weeks ahead.

Oh, and I just learned that next week the new season of Unforgotten will start showing on Masterpiece. We've waited a long time for that one.

A short month, and lots to celebrate.

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You'd think these days of indoor living would be welcome--after all, there are quilts to finish; boxes to look through and most of the contents discarded; books to read (I'm getting that one done). I can always write letters, work on story lines for novels in progress; and if I'm desperate, I can clean house. (I rarely get desperate.) Best of all, I don't have to go out in the cold to do any of those things.

What I refuse to do is wish I were somewhere else--or in a different time. Spring will come when she will--the earth will change day by day--without my input. No amount of wishing or ranting or frustration or pouting will affect Nature's timetable.

Can't say I'm thrilled to bits about being snowed in--after all, it's not much different from being quarantined or isolated or locked down. But we're more than halfway to another month, in which we will see the earth begin to open up and bloom, a little at a time (good thing, too, because a huge all-of-a-sudden blooming might knock our socks off).

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Have a wonderful week. Be happy, be safe, be kind.

Here's a little sign of things to come.

Crocuses in the snow!