December 9.
The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally last night, though they were only frozen along the edges yesterday. This is unusually sudden.
The air being very quiet and serene, I observe at mid-afternoon that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth.
The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally last night, though they were only frozen along the edges yesterday. This is unusually sudden.The air being very quiet and serene, I observe at mid-afternoon that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth.
There is just enough invisible vapor, perhaps from the snow, to soften the blue, giving it a slight greenish tinge.
Methinks it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer.
H.D. Thoreau, Journal, December 9, 1859
The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally last night, . . .. This is unusually sudden. See November 21, 1852 ("I am surprised this afternoon to find the river skimmed over in some places, and Fair Haven Pond one-third frozen or skimmed over”); November 23, 1852("I am surprised to see Fair Haven entirely skimmed over”): November 30, 1855 (“Got in my boat. River remained iced over all day. ”); December 5, 1853("The river frozen over thinly in most places . . . Fair Haven Pond is skimmed completely over."); December 5, 1856 ('The river is well skimmed over in most places, though it will not bear, — wherever there is least current, as in broad places, or where there is least wind, . . “); December 7, 1856 ("The pond must have been frozen by the 4th at least. . . .The ice appears to be but three or four inches thick); December 11, 1854 ("C. says he found Fair Haven frozen over last Friday, i. e. the 8th."); December 13, 1850 ("The river froze over last night, — skimmed over. “); December 13, 1859 (“Now that the river is frozen we have a sky under our feet also. ”); December 19, 1856 (“Last night was so cold that the river closed up almost everywhere, and made good skating where there had been no ice to catch the snow of the night before.”); December 20, 1854 (“All of the river that was not frozen before, and therefore not covered with snow on the 18th, is now frozen quite smoothly;”); December 21, 1855 ("I here take to the riverside. The broader places are frozen over, but I do not trust them yet. Fair Haven is entirely frozen over, probably some days"); December 21, 1857 (" Walden and Fair Haven,. . .have only frozen just enough to bear me, “) See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, First Ice
I observe at mid-afternoon that peculiarly softened western sky, . . .giving it a slight greenish tinge. See December 11, 1854 ("It is but mid-afternoon when I see the sun setting far through the woods, and there is that peculiar clear vitreous greenish sky in the west, as it were a molten gem."); December 20, 1854 ("The sky in the eastern horizon has that same greenish-vitreous, gem-like appearance which it has at sundown, . . ."). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Western Sky
Dec. 9. Suddenly cold last night. The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally (I see no opening as I walk) last night, though they were only frozen along the edges yesterday. This is unusually sudden.
How prominent the late or fall flowers are, now withered above the snow, — the goldenrods and asters, Roman wormwood, etc., etc.! These late ones have a sort of life extended into winter, hung with icy jewelry.
I observe at mid-afternoon, the air being very quiet and serene, that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth. There are many whitish filmy clouds a third of the way to the zenith, generally long and narrow, parallel with the horizon, with indistinct edges, alternating with the blue. And there is just enough invisible vapor, perhaps from the snow, to soften the blue, giving it a slight greenish tinge. Thus, methinks, it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer. It is not a cold, hard, glittering sky, but a warm, soft, filmy one.
Methinks it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer.
H.D. Thoreau, Journal, December 9, 1859
The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally last night, . . .. This is unusually sudden. See November 21, 1852 ("I am surprised this afternoon to find the river skimmed over in some places, and Fair Haven Pond one-third frozen or skimmed over”); November 23, 1852("I am surprised to see Fair Haven entirely skimmed over”): November 30, 1855 (“Got in my boat. River remained iced over all day. ”); December 5, 1853("The river frozen over thinly in most places . . . Fair Haven Pond is skimmed completely over."); December 5, 1856 ('The river is well skimmed over in most places, though it will not bear, — wherever there is least current, as in broad places, or where there is least wind, . . “); December 7, 1856 ("The pond must have been frozen by the 4th at least. . . .The ice appears to be but three or four inches thick); December 11, 1854 ("C. says he found Fair Haven frozen over last Friday, i. e. the 8th."); December 13, 1850 ("The river froze over last night, — skimmed over. “); December 13, 1859 (“Now that the river is frozen we have a sky under our feet also. ”); December 19, 1856 (“Last night was so cold that the river closed up almost everywhere, and made good skating where there had been no ice to catch the snow of the night before.”); December 20, 1854 (“All of the river that was not frozen before, and therefore not covered with snow on the 18th, is now frozen quite smoothly;”); December 21, 1855 ("I here take to the riverside. The broader places are frozen over, but I do not trust them yet. Fair Haven is entirely frozen over, probably some days"); December 21, 1857 (" Walden and Fair Haven,. . .have only frozen just enough to bear me, “) See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, First Ice
I observe at mid-afternoon that peculiarly softened western sky, . . .giving it a slight greenish tinge. See December 11, 1854 ("It is but mid-afternoon when I see the sun setting far through the woods, and there is that peculiar clear vitreous greenish sky in the west, as it were a molten gem."); December 20, 1854 ("The sky in the eastern horizon has that same greenish-vitreous, gem-like appearance which it has at sundown, . . ."). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Western Sky
Dec. 9. Suddenly cold last night. The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally (I see no opening as I walk) last night, though they were only frozen along the edges yesterday. This is unusually sudden.
How prominent the late or fall flowers are, now withered above the snow, — the goldenrods and asters, Roman wormwood, etc., etc.! These late ones have a sort of life extended into winter, hung with icy jewelry.
I observe at mid-afternoon, the air being very quiet and serene, that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth. There are many whitish filmy clouds a third of the way to the zenith, generally long and narrow, parallel with the horizon, with indistinct edges, alternating with the blue. And there is just enough invisible vapor, perhaps from the snow, to soften the blue, giving it a slight greenish tinge. Thus, methinks, it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer. It is not a cold, hard, glittering sky, but a warm, soft, filmy one.
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