A Book of the Seasons, Signs of the Spring: My Greatcoat on my Arm

No mortal is alert enough to be present at the first dawn of the spring. 

Henry Thoreau, March 17, 1857

The phenomena of an average March are increasing warmth, 

melting the snow and ice and. . . some calm and pleasant days reminding us of summer, with a blue haze or a thicker mist wreathing the woods at last, in which, perchance, we take off our coats awhile and sit without a fire a day.

 March 22, 1860

February 7. It is so warm that I am obliged to take off my greatcoat and carry it on my arm. February 7, 1857

February 16.  The sun is most pleasantly warm on my cheek; the melting snow shines in the ruts; the cocks crow more than usual in barns; my greatcoat is an incumbrance. February 16, 1856

February 23. I have seen signs of the spring. February 23, 1857

February 24.. I walk without a greatcoat. A chickadee with its winter lisp flits over, and I think it is time to hear its phoebe note,and that instant it pipes it forth. February 24, 1857

February 25. The flies buzz out of doors. Though I left my outside coat at home, this single thick one is too much. February 25, 1857

March 10. This is the first really spring day. The sun is brightly reflected from all surfaces, and the north side of the street begins to be a little more passable to foot-travelers. You do not think it necessary to button up your coat. Something analogous to the thawing of the ice seems to have taken place in the air. At the end of winter there is a season in which are are daily expecting spring, and finally a day when it arrives. March 10, 1853

March 15. This afternoon I throw off my outside coat. A mild spring day. The air is full of bluebirds. . . . My life partakes of infinity. March 15, 1852

March 17. . A remarkably warm day for the season; too warm while surveying without my great coat; almost like May heats. March 17, 1854

March 17.  It is very warm. I wear but one coat on the water. March 17, 1859

March 20. At first a sunny, calm, serene winter day is pronounced spring, or reminds us of it; and then the first pleasant spring day perhaps we walk with our greatcoat buttoned up and gloves on. March 20, 1855

March 30.  A very warm and pleasant day (at 2 P.M., 63° and rising). The afternoon so warm -- wind southwest -- you take off coat. . . .It is time to begin to leave your greatcoat at home, to put on shoes instead of boots and feel lightfooted. March 30, 1860

March 31. The fuzzy gnats are in the air, and bluebirds, whose warble is thawed out. I am uncomfortably warm, gradually unbutton both my coats, and wish that I had left the outside one at home. March 31, 1855

March 31. A yet warmer day. A very thick haze, concealing mountains and all distant objects like a smoke, with a strong but warm southwest wind. Your outside coat is soon left on the ground in the woods, where it first becomes quite intolerable. March 31, 1860

See also Signs of the Spring:

• A Change in the Air
• A Sunny Nook in Spring
• Alder and Willow Catkins Expanding
• Braided Ripples of Melting Snow Shine in the Ruts
• Bright Blue Water
• Buzzing Flies
• Ducks Afar, Sailing on the Meadow
• Frogs, and Turtles Stirring
• Greening Grasses and Sedges
• I begin to think that my wood will last.
• Insects and Worms Come Forth and are Active
• Listening for the Bluebird
• March is famous for its Winds
• Mosses Bright Green
• My Greatcoat on my Arm
• Perla-like Insects Appear
• Red Maple Sap Flows
• Ripples made by Fishes
• The Anxious Peep of the Early Robin
• The Crowing of Cocks, the Cawing of crows
• The Days have grown Sensibly Longer
• The Eaves Begin to Run
• The Gobbling of Turkeys
• The Grackle Arrives
• The Hawks of March
• The New Warmth of the Sun
• The Note of the Dark-eyed Junco Going Northward
• The Red-Wing Arrives
• The Skunk Cabbage Blooms
• The Softened Air of these Warm February Days
• The Song Sparrow Sings
• The Spring Note of the Chickadee
• The Spring Note of the Nuthatch
• The Striped Squirrel Comes Out
• The Water Bug (Gyrinus)
• Walking without Gloves
• Woodpeckers Tapping

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A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring; 

My Greatcoat on my Arm

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 ©  2009-2024