The year is but a succession of days,
and I see that I could assign some office to each day
which, summed up, would be the history of the year.
Journal, March 11, 1852:
The woods I walked in in my youth are cut off. See January 21, 1852 ("This winter they are cutting down our woods more seriously than ever,--Fair Haven hill, Walden, Linnaea, Borealis Wood, etc., etc. Thank God, they cannot cut down the clouds!")
Water is now rapidly finding its level in the ocean. See April 14, 1852 ("The streams break up; the ice goes to the sea. Then sails the fish hawk overhead, looking for his prey.")
Journal, March 11, 1854
This is the first song I have heard. See March 11, 1859 ("By riverside I hear the song of many song sparrows, the most of a song of any yet. . . .The birds anticipate the spring; they come to melt the ice with their songs.") and note to February 24, 1857 ("I am surprised to hear the strain of a song sparrow from the riverside”) See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow (Fringilla melodia)
The distant mountains are all white with snow while our landscape is nearly bare. See April 4, 1855 (“[F]ar beyond all, in the north western horizon, my eye rests on a range of snow-covered mountains, glistening in the sun.”); April 4, 1852 ("I see the snow lying thick on the south side of the Peterboro Hills, . . .probably the dividing line at present between the bare ground and the snow-clad ground stretching three thousand miles to the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie and the Icy Sea."); February 21, 1855 ("I look at the Peterboro mountains with my glass from Fair Haven Hill. I think that there can be no more arctic scene than these mountains in the edge of the horizon completely crusted over with snow, with the sun shining on them, seen through a telescope over bare, russet fields and dark forests.")
Rich blue water and islands or continents of white ice. See
Journal, March 11, 1855:
Many of those dirty-white millers or ephemera in the air. See March 3, 1855 (“I see a dirty-white miller fluttering about over the winter-rye patch next to Hubbard’s Grove. ”)
Journal, March 11, 1856:
I wish so to live ever as to derive my satisfactions and inspirations from the commonest events . . . dream of no heaven but that which lies about me. See April 24, 1859 ("There is no other life but this, or the like of this. Nothing must be postponed. “); January 11, 1852 ("Let me not live as if time was short. Catch the pace of the seasons; have leisure to attend to every phenomenon of nature, and to entertain every thought that comes. “)
Journal, March 11, 1857:
Journal, March 11, 1859:
By riverside I hear the song of many song sparrows, the most of a song of any yet. See March 11, 1854 (“The developing of their song is gradual but sure, like the expanding of a flower. This is the first song I have heard. ”)
I see and hear a red-wing. See March 11, 1852 ("I believe that I saw blackbirds yesterday.”); March 11, 1854 ("Air full of birds, — bluebirds, song sparrows, chickadee (phoebe notes), and blackbirds.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Red-wing in Spring
But methinks the sound of the woodpecker tapping is as much a spring note as any these mornings; it echoes peculiarly in the air of a spring morning. See March 13, 1855 ("I hear the rapid tapping of the woodpecker from over the water."); March 15, 1854 ("I hear that peculiar, interesting loud hollow tapping of a woodpecker from over the water.”); March 18, 1853 ("The tapping of the woodpecker about this time.”); March 27, 1857 (“You are pretty sure to hear a woodpecker early in the morning over these still waters.”); March 30, 1854 ("At the Island I see and hear this morning the cackle of a pigeon woodpecker at the hollow poplar; had heard him tapping distinctly from my boat's place.”); April 14, 1856 (“Hear the flicker’s cackle on the old aspen, and his tapping sounds afar over the water. . . .It is a hollow sound which rings distinct to a great distance, especially over water.”); April 27, 1856 ("The tapping of a woodpecker is made a more remarkable and emphatic sound by the hollowness of the trunk, the expanse of water which conducts the sound, and the morning hour at which I commonly hear it.”);May 9, 1860 ("The tapping of a woodpecker sounds distinct and hollow this still cloudy day.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of Spring, the tapping of the woodpecker
On the chimney was the date 1703 (?), — I think that was it. See February 15, 1857 (“I found that the Lee house, of which six weeks ago I made an accurate plan, had been completely burned up the evening before, i. e. the 13th, while I was lecturing in Worcester. . . . In the course of the forenoon of yesterday I walked up to the site of the house, . . .. On my way I met Abel Hunt, to whom I observed that it was perhaps the oldest house in town. "No," said he, "they saw the date on it during the fire, — 1707." ”)
Journal, March 11, 1860:
Journal, March 11, 1861:
It will be open then the 12th or 13th.This is earlier than I ever knew it to open. See Walden ("In 1845 Walden was first completely open on the 1st of April; in '46, the 25th of March; in '47, the 8th of April; in '51, the 28th of March; in '52, the 18th of April; in '53, the 23rd of March; in '54, about the 7th of April. "); April 18, 1856 ("Walden is open entirely to-day for the first time, owing to the rain of yesterday and evening. I have observed its breaking up of different years commencing in ’45, and the average date has been April 4th. ") Note: From 1995 to 2015, ice out ranged from Jan. 29 in 2012 to as late as April 12. The median ice out date over that period was March 21. See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Ice-out
C. observes where mice (?) have gnawed the pitch pines the past winter. See January 23, 1852 ("Mice have nibbled the buds of the pitch pines, where the plumes have been bent down by the snow.")
We have many kinds, but each is confined to its own habitat. See May 12, 1857 ("Consider how many species of willow have been planted along the railroad causeway within ten years, of which no one knows the history, and not one in Concord beside myself can tell the name of one,")
The seed of the willow is exceedingly minute. . .and is surrounded at base by a tuft of cotton - like hairs about one fourth of an inch long rising around and above it, forming a kind of parachute. These render it the most buoyant of the seeds of any of our trees . . and, though apparently not more than one in many millions gets to be a shrub, yet so lavish and persevering is Nature that her purpose is completely answered. Compare October 12, 1851 ("The seeds of the bidens, or beggar-ticks, with four-barbed awns like hay-hooks, now adhere to your clothes, so that you are all bristling with them. ... How tenacious of its purpose to spread and plant its race! By all methods nature secures this end, whether by the balloon, or parachute, or hook, or barbed spear like this, or mere lightness which the winds can waft."); November 8, 1860 ("Consider how persevering Nature is, and how much time she has to work in, though she works slowly.") See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Propogation of the Willow. and A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau. Willows on the Causeway.
Rich blue water and islands or continents of white ice. See
The first sight of
the blue water in the spring
is exhilarating.
April 5, 1856
And for the first time
I see the water looking
blue on the meadows.
March 5, 1854
Journal, March 11, 1855:
Many of those dirty-white millers or ephemera in the air. See March 3, 1855 (“I see a dirty-white miller fluttering about over the winter-rye patch next to Hubbard’s Grove. ”)
Journal, March 11, 1856:
I wish so to live ever as to derive my satisfactions and inspirations from the commonest events . . . dream of no heaven but that which lies about me. See April 24, 1859 ("There is no other life but this, or the like of this. Nothing must be postponed. “); January 11, 1852 ("Let me not live as if time was short. Catch the pace of the seasons; have leisure to attend to every phenomenon of nature, and to entertain every thought that comes. “)
Journal, March 11, 1857:
Journal, March 11, 1859:
By riverside I hear the song of many song sparrows, the most of a song of any yet. See March 11, 1854 (“The developing of their song is gradual but sure, like the expanding of a flower. This is the first song I have heard. ”)
I see and hear a red-wing. See March 11, 1852 ("I believe that I saw blackbirds yesterday.”); March 11, 1854 ("Air full of birds, — bluebirds, song sparrows, chickadee (phoebe notes), and blackbirds.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Red-wing in Spring
But methinks the sound of the woodpecker tapping is as much a spring note as any these mornings; it echoes peculiarly in the air of a spring morning. See March 13, 1855 ("I hear the rapid tapping of the woodpecker from over the water."); March 15, 1854 ("I hear that peculiar, interesting loud hollow tapping of a woodpecker from over the water.”); March 18, 1853 ("The tapping of the woodpecker about this time.”); March 27, 1857 (“You are pretty sure to hear a woodpecker early in the morning over these still waters.”); March 30, 1854 ("At the Island I see and hear this morning the cackle of a pigeon woodpecker at the hollow poplar; had heard him tapping distinctly from my boat's place.”); April 14, 1856 (“Hear the flicker’s cackle on the old aspen, and his tapping sounds afar over the water. . . .It is a hollow sound which rings distinct to a great distance, especially over water.”); April 27, 1856 ("The tapping of a woodpecker is made a more remarkable and emphatic sound by the hollowness of the trunk, the expanse of water which conducts the sound, and the morning hour at which I commonly hear it.”);May 9, 1860 ("The tapping of a woodpecker sounds distinct and hollow this still cloudy day.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of Spring, the tapping of the woodpecker
On the chimney was the date 1703 (?), — I think that was it. See February 15, 1857 (“I found that the Lee house, of which six weeks ago I made an accurate plan, had been completely burned up the evening before, i. e. the 13th, while I was lecturing in Worcester. . . . In the course of the forenoon of yesterday I walked up to the site of the house, . . .. On my way I met Abel Hunt, to whom I observed that it was perhaps the oldest house in town. "No," said he, "they saw the date on it during the fire, — 1707." ”)
Journal, March 11, 1860:
Journal, March 11, 1861:
It will be open then the 12th or 13th.This is earlier than I ever knew it to open. See Walden ("In 1845 Walden was first completely open on the 1st of April; in '46, the 25th of March; in '47, the 8th of April; in '51, the 28th of March; in '52, the 18th of April; in '53, the 23rd of March; in '54, about the 7th of April. "); April 18, 1856 ("Walden is open entirely to-day for the first time, owing to the rain of yesterday and evening. I have observed its breaking up of different years commencing in ’45, and the average date has been April 4th. ") Note: From 1995 to 2015, ice out ranged from Jan. 29 in 2012 to as late as April 12. The median ice out date over that period was March 21. See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Ice-out
C. observes where mice (?) have gnawed the pitch pines the past winter. See January 23, 1852 ("Mice have nibbled the buds of the pitch pines, where the plumes have been bent down by the snow.")
We have many kinds, but each is confined to its own habitat. See May 12, 1857 ("Consider how many species of willow have been planted along the railroad causeway within ten years, of which no one knows the history, and not one in Concord beside myself can tell the name of one,")
The seed of the willow is exceedingly minute. . .and is surrounded at base by a tuft of cotton - like hairs about one fourth of an inch long rising around and above it, forming a kind of parachute. These render it the most buoyant of the seeds of any of our trees . . and, though apparently not more than one in many millions gets to be a shrub, yet so lavish and persevering is Nature that her purpose is completely answered. Compare October 12, 1851 ("The seeds of the bidens, or beggar-ticks, with four-barbed awns like hay-hooks, now adhere to your clothes, so that you are all bristling with them. ... How tenacious of its purpose to spread and plant its race! By all methods nature secures this end, whether by the balloon, or parachute, or hook, or barbed spear like this, or mere lightness which the winds can waft."); November 8, 1860 ("Consider how persevering Nature is, and how much time she has to work in, though she works slowly.") See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Propogation of the Willow. and A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau. Willows on the Causeway.
Landscape nearly bare
distant mountains white with snow,
song sparrow’s first song.
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 © 2009-2021
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