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
Henry Thoreau, August 24, 1852
A sprinkling of snow
whitens the ice in the swamp –
I see rabbit tracks.
You cannot go out
so early but you will find
some wild creature's track
. December 22, 1852
Walden skimmed over
will probably freeze to-night
if this weather holds.
A narrow line of
yellow rushes lit up by
the westering sun.
December 22. 2018
In winter I can explore the swamps and ponds. December 22, 1850
A slight whitening of snow last evening, the second whitening of the winter, just enough to spoil the skating, now ten days old, on the ponds. December 22, 1853
This evening and night, the second important snow, there having been sleighing since the 4th, and now. December 22, 1860
The squirrel, rabbit, fox tracks, etc., attract the attention in the new-fallen snow. December 22, 1852
You cannot go out so early but you will find the track of some wild creature. December 22, 1852
Last night's sprinkling of snow does not now whiten the ground, except that here in the swamp it whitens the ice and already I see the tracks of rabbits on it. December 22, 1853
I see more tracks in the swamps than elsewhere. December 22, 1850
I see where a rabbit has hopped across [Walden] in the slosh last night, making a track larger than a man’s ordinarily is. December 22, 1858
The squirrel nests, bunches of grass and leaves high in the trees, more conspicuous if not larger now, or the glimpse of a meadow (?) mouse, give occasion for a remark. December 22, 1852
It is a dark-aired winter day, yet I see the summer plants still peering above the snow. December 22, 1850
In the swamps the dry, yellowish-colored fruit of the poison dogwood hangs like jewelry on long, drooping stems. It is pleasant to meet it, it has so much character relatively to man. December 22, 1850
Got a white spruce for a Christmas-tree for the town out of the spruce swamp opposite J. Farmer's. December 22, 1853
The fisherman stands erect and still on the ice, awaiting our approach, as usual forward to say that he has had no luck. He has been here since early morning, and for some reason or other the fishes won't bite. December 22, 1859
However, the pond floor is not a bad place to spend a winter day. December 22, 1859
On what I will call Sassafras Island, in this pond, I notice the largest and handsomest high blueberry at the ground into four stems, all very large and the largest three inches in diameter (one way) at three feet high, and at the ground, where they seem to form one trunk (at least grown together), nine inches in diameter. December 22, 1859
I see more tracks in the swamps than elsewhere. December 22, 1850
I see where a rabbit has hopped across [Walden] in the slosh last night, making a track larger than a man’s ordinarily is. December 22, 1858
The squirrel nests, bunches of grass and leaves high in the trees, more conspicuous if not larger now, or the glimpse of a meadow (?) mouse, give occasion for a remark. December 22, 1852
Here is a stump on which a squirrel has sat and stripped the pine cones of a neighboring tree. Their cores and scales lie all around. He knew that they contained an almond before the naturalist did. He has long been a close observer of Nature; opens her caskets. December 22, 1850
I see in the chestnut woods near Flint's Pond where squirrels have collected the small chestnut burs left the trunks on the snow. December 22, 1859
In a . . . nest on this island [ what I will call Sassafras Island, in Flint's Pond], ]I saw three cherry-stones, as if it had carried home this fruit to its young. It was, outside, of gnaphalium and saddled on a low limb. Could it have been a cherry-bird? December 22, 1859
What a reminiscence of summer, a fiery hangbird's nest dangling from an elm over the road when perhaps the thermometer is down to -20 (?), and the traveller goes beating his arms beneath it! December 22, 1859
It is a dark-aired winter day, yet I see the summer plants still peering above the snow. December 22, 1850
In the swamps the dry, yellowish-colored fruit of the poison dogwood hangs like jewelry on long, drooping stems. It is pleasant to meet it, it has so much character relatively to man. December 22, 1850
It is pleasant, cutting a path through the bushes in a swamp, to see the color of the different woods, – the yellowish dogwood, the green prinos (?), and, on the upland, the splendid yellow barberry. December 22, 1852
The large leafy lichens on the white pines, especially on the outside of the wood, look almost a golden yellow in the light reflected from the snow, while deeper in the wood they are ash-colored. December 22, 1859
Got a white spruce for a Christmas-tree for the town out of the spruce swamp opposite J. Farmer's. December 22, 1853
It is remarkable how few inhabitants of Concord can těll a spruce from a fir, and probably not two a white from a black spruce, unless they are together. The woodchopper, even hereabouts, cuts down several kinds of trees without knowing what they are. Neither do the spruce trees know the villager. The villager doesn't know a black spruce tree when he sees it. How slender his relation to the spruce tree! The white has taken refuge in swamps from him. It is nothing but so much evergreen to him. December 22, 1853
Three men are fishing on Flint's Pond, where the ice is seven or eight inches thick. December 22, 1859
Three men are fishing on Flint's Pond, where the ice is seven or eight inches thick. December 22, 1859
The fisherman stands erect and still on the ice, awaiting our approach, as usual forward to say that he has had no luck. He has been here since early morning, and for some reason or other the fishes won't bite. December 22, 1859
However, the pond floor is not a bad place to spend a winter day. December 22, 1859
Walden skimmed over in the widest part, but some acres still open; will probably freeze entirely to-night if this weather holds. December 22, 1853
The pond is no more frozen than on the 20th. December 22, 1858
I see in the cut near the shanty-site quite a flock of F. hyemalis and goldfinches together, on the snow and weeds and ground. December 22, 1858
Hear the well-known mew and watery twitter of the last and the drier chilt chilt of the former. December 22, 1858
These burning yellow birds with a little black and white on their coat-flaps look warm above the snow. December 22, 1858
There may be thirty goldfinches, very brisk and pretty tame. December 22, 1858
They hang head downwards on the weeds. December 22, 1858
I hear of their coming to pick sunflower seeds in Melvin’s garden these days. December 22, 1858
The pond is no more frozen than on the 20th. December 22, 1858
I see in the cut near the shanty-site quite a flock of F. hyemalis and goldfinches together, on the snow and weeds and ground. December 22, 1858
Hear the well-known mew and watery twitter of the last and the drier chilt chilt of the former. December 22, 1858
These burning yellow birds with a little black and white on their coat-flaps look warm above the snow. December 22, 1858
There may be thirty goldfinches, very brisk and pretty tame. December 22, 1858
They hang head downwards on the weeds. December 22, 1858
I hear of their coming to pick sunflower seeds in Melvin’s garden these days. December 22, 1858
The cladium (?) retains its seeds over the ice, little conical, sharp-pointed, flat-based, dark-brown, shining seeds. December 22, 1859
I look back to the wharf rock shore and see that rush (cladium I have called it), the warmest object in the landscape, — a narrow line of warm yellow rushes — for they reflect the western light, — along the edge of the somewhat snowy pond and next the snow-clad and wooded shore. December 22, 1859
This rush, which is comparatively inconspicuous in the summer, becomes thus in the winter afternoons a conspicuous and interesting object, lit up by the westering sun. December 22, 1859
This rush, which is comparatively inconspicuous in the summer, becomes thus in the winter afternoons a conspicuous and interesting object, lit up by the westering sun. December 22, 1859
Returning home just after the sun had sunk below the horizon, I saw from N. Barrett's a fire made by boys on the ice near the Red Bridge, which looked like a bright reflection of a setting sun from the water under the bridge, so clear, so little lurid, in this winter evening air. December 22, 1852
December 22, 2019
*****
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Reminiscence and Prompting
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White Pines
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Lichens
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Helianthus
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Winter Birds
A Book of the Seasons by Henry Thoreau, the Dark-eyed Junco (Fringilla hyemalis)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau the Goldfinch
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Cherry-bird (cedar waxwing)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, First Ice
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Annual ice-in at Walden
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Winter Colors
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The world can never be more beautiful than now
See also Winter Colors (The solstice) (posted December 21, 2020)
*****
December 22, 2017
March 24, 1859 ("I see a flock of goldfinches, first of spring,")
May 18, 1852 (The world can never be more beautiful than now.)
June 1, 1860 ("This makes three gray squirrels' nests that I have seen and heard of (seen two of them) this year, made thus of leaves and sticks open in the trees, and I hear of some more similar ones found in former years, so that I think this mode of nesting their young may be the rule with them here")
June 26, 1853 ("Many of my fellow-citizens might go fishing a thousand times, perchance, before the sediment of fishing would sink to the bottom and leave their purpose pure, -- before they began to angle for the pond itself.”)
August 31, 1858 ("The Flint’s Pond rush appears to be Cladium mariscoides, twig rush.")
August 31, 1858 ("The Flint’s Pond rush appears to be Cladium mariscoides, twig rush.")
November 8, 1853 (“Our first snow,. . . The children greet it with a shout when they come out at recess.”)
November 13, 1857 (“ I see, on a white oak on Egg Rock, where the squirrels have lately made a nest for the winter of the dry oak leaves . . . I suspect it is a gray squirrel's nest.”)
November 18, 1855 ("The snow is the great track-revealer.")
November 24, 1860 ("Though a slight touch, . . . The rabbits in the swamps enjoy it, as well as you.”)
December 4, 1860 ("The first snow, four or five inches, this evening.";
December 5, 1853 ("The river frozen. .. and whitened with snow , which was sprinkled on it this noon'")
December 8, 1855 ("Let a snow come and clothe the ground and trees, and I shall see the tracks of many inhabitants now unsuspected")
December 10, 1856 ("A warm, clear, glorious winter day.");
December 10, 1853 ("These are among the finest days in the year.”)
December 12, 1859 ("The snow having come, we see where is the path of the partridge, — his comings and goings from copse to copse, — and now first, as it were, we have the fox for our nightly neighbor, and countless tiny deer mice.")
December 20, 1854 ("It has been a glorious winter day")
December 21, 1854 ("We are tempted to call these the finest days of the year.")
December 21, 1854 "Walden is frozen over, apparently about two inches thick")
December 21, 1855 ("A few simple colors now prevail.")
December 21, 1855 (“Walden is skimmed over, all but an acre, in my cove.”)
December 21, 1856 ("The pond is open again in the middle, owing to the rain of yesterday.")
December 21, 1855 (“Walden is skimmed over, all but an acre, in my cove.”)
December 21, 1856 ("The pond is open again in the middle, owing to the rain of yesterday.")
December 21, 1857 ("Walden and Fair Haven . . . have only frozen just enough to bear me.")
December 21, 1859 ("A fine winter day")
December 23, 1845 ("The pond froze over last night entirely for the first time, yet so as not to be safe to walk upon”); also Walden (("In 1845 Walden froze entirely over for the first time on the night of the 22d of December”)
December 23, 1855 ("These are the colors of the earth now.")
December 23, 1859 ("The third fine, clear, bright, and rather mild winter day")
December 24, 1856 ("Am surprised to find Walden still open in the middle.”)
December 24, 1859 ("There is, in all, an acre or two in Walden not yet frozen, though half of it has been frozen more than a week")
December 24, 1859 ("I measure the blueberry bushes on Flint's Pond Island.")
December 26, 1853 ("Walden still open. Saw in it a small diver, . . . This being the only pond hereabouts that is open.”)
December 27, 1853 ("It is surprising what things the snow betrays . . . no sooner does the snow come and spread its mantle over the earth than it is printed with the tracks of countless mice and larger animals.")
December 28, 1856 ("Am surprised to see the F. hyemalis here.")December 28, 1856 (". . . if not catching many fish, still getting what they went for, though they may not be aware of it, i.e. a wilder experience than the town affords.")
December 30, 1853 ("The pond not yet frozen entirely over; about six acres open, the wind blew so hard last night.”)
December 31, 1853 ("Walden froze completely over last night. It is, however, all snow ice, as it froze while it was snowing hard, and it looks like frozen yeast somewhat.”)
December 31, 1853 ("This animal probably I should never see the least trace of, were it not for the snow, the great revealer.")
January 1, 1856 ("Here are two fishermen, and one has preceded them. They have not had a bite, and know not why. It has been a clear winter day.")
January 4, 1860 ("Again see what the snow reveals.. . . that the woods are nightly thronged with little creatures which most have never seen")
January 5, 1860 ("How much the snow reveals! ")
January 5, 1860 ("I see where a flock of goldfinches in the morning had settled on a hemlock's top, by the snow strewn with scales, literally blackened or darkened with them for a rod.")
January 12, 1855 ("On Flint’s Pond I find Nat Rice fishing. He has not caught one. I asked him what he thought the best time to fish. He said, “When the wind first comes south after a cold spell, on a bright morning.”");
January 13, 1853 ("A drifting snow-storm last night and to day, the first of consequence; and the first sleighing this winter.")
January 14, 1853 ("Snow freshly fallen is one thing, to-morrow it will be another. It is now pure and trackless. Walking three or four miles in the woods, I see but one track of any kind, yet by to-morrow morning there will he countless tracks of all sizes all over the country.")
January 22, 1854 ("No second snow-storm in the winter can be so fair and interesting as the first")
January 24, 1856 (“That Wheeler swamp is a great place for squirrels. I observe many of their tracks along the riverside there. The nests are of leaves, and apparently of the gray species.”)
January 26, 1860 ("To Eleazer Davis's Hill, and made a fire on the ice, merely to see the flame and smell the smoke.")
February 2, 1860 ("And as we were kindling a fire on the pond by the side of the island, we saw the fox himself at the inlet of the river.")
February 7, 1854 ("Made a fire on the snow-covered ice half a mile below Ball's Hill”)
February 16, 1854 ("I have not seen F . hyemalis since last fall.")
February 16, 1854 ("Snow is a great revealer not only of tracks made in itself, but even in the earth before it fell.")
February 20, 1854 ("Make a fire on the south side of the pond, using canoe birch bark and oak leaves for kindling.")
February 21, 1854 ("There is scarcely a track of any animal yet to be seen. You cannot walk too early in new-fallen snow to get the sense of purity, novelty, and unexploredness.")
December 22, 2014
If you make the least correct
observation of nature this year,
you will have occasion to repeat it
with illustrations the next,
and the season and life itself is prolonged.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, December 22
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 © 2009-2022
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