Skating in the roads.

January 3.

Having had rain within a few days on the four or five inches of snow there was, making slosh of it without melting the hard frozen ground, the slosh and surface water have now frozen, making it pretty good skating in the roads generally.

I walked to Acton, 

but might have skated well half 

or two thirds the way.

Many of the clusters of the smooth sumach are now a very dark crimson.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, January 3, 1859

The slosh and surface water have now frozen. See January 3, 1858 ("The slosh on Walden had so much water in it that it has now frozen perfectly smooth and looks like a semitransparent marble"); December 21, 1859 ("The incipient slosh of yesterday is now frozen, and makes good sleighing and a foundation for more.")

Many of the clusters of the smooth sumach are now a very dark crimson. See November 8, 1858 ("I admire again about this time the still bright red or crimson fruit of the sumach, now when not only its own but most other leaves have fallen and there are few bright tints,"); October 5, 1857 ("The smooth sumach is very important for its mass of clear red or crimson. Some of it is now a very dark crimson")

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, January 3

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season, 

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2023