The ice still remains in Walden, though it will not bear.

March 23. 

March 23, 2021

For a week past the elm buds have been swollen. The willow catkins have put out. 

The ice still remains in Walden, though it will not bear. Mather Howard saw a large meadow near his house which had risen up but was prevented from floating away by the bushes.


H. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 23, 1851

 

The willow catkins have put out. See March 21, 1859 ("The willow catkins are also very conspicuous, in silvery masses rising above the flood. "); March 22, 1854 ("The now silvery willow catkins shine along the shore over the cold water.");March 22, 1856 ("The down of willow catkins in very warm places has in almost every case peeped out an eighth of an inch, generally over the whole willow.")
See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring: Alder and Willow Catkins Expanding

The ice still remains in Walden. See March 11, 1861 ("It will be open then the 12th or 13th.This is earlier than I ever knew it to open.") See also 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. ")

For a week past elm 

buds have been swollen–willow 

catkins have put out. 

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