Henry Thoreau, March 17, 1857
Raw westerly wind –
but deliciously warm now
in sheltered places.
April 26, 2013
And so it always is in April
Cold as it is and
has been for several weeks
in all exposed places
I find it unexpectedly warm
in perfectly sheltered places
where the sun shines.
.
Here cold northwest wind
separates—distinct from the air
warmed by the April sun
and when I sit in some
warm and sheltered hollow
the cold currents drop in—
just as they are seen
to ripple a small lake
from time to time.
February 22. The westerly wind is rather raw, but in sheltered places it is deliciously warm. February 22, 1855
February 23. I have seen sitgns of the spring. February 23, 1857
March 4. Seeking a sunny nook on the south side of a wood which keeps off the cold wind, sitting among the maples and the swamp white oaks which are frozen in, I hear the chickadees and the belching of the ice. The sun has got a new power in his rays after all, cold as the weather is. He could not have warmed me so much a month ago . . . Crossing the shrub oak plain to the Cliffs, I find a place on the south side of this rocky hill where the snow is melted and the bare gray rock appears, covered with mosses and lichens and beds of oak leaves in the hollows. As I sit an invisible flame and smoke seems to ascend from the leaves, and the sun shines with a genial warmth. The snow is melting on the rocks; the water trickles down in shining streams; the mosses look bright; the first awakening of vegetation at the root of the saxifrage. An oasis in the snow. March 4, 1852
March 4. Though a cold and strong wind, it is very warm in the sun, and we can sit in the sun where sheltered on these rocks with impunity. It is a genial warmth. March 4, 1855
March 8. Stopping in a sunny and sheltered place on a hillock in the woods, — for it is raw in the wind. March 8, 1855
March 8. Nowadays we separate the warmth of the sun from the cold of the wind and observe that the cold does not pervade all places, but being due to strong northwest winds, if we get into some sunny and sheltered nook where they do not penetrate, we quite forget how cold it is elsewhere. March 8, 1860
April 8. Cold as it is, and has been for several weeks, in all exposed places, I find it unexpectedly warm in perfectly sheltered places where the sun shines. And so it always is in April. The cold wind from the northwest seems distinct and separable from the air here warmed by the sun, and when I sit in some warm and sheltered hollow in the woods, I feel the cold currents drop into it from time to time, just as they are seen to ripple a small lake in such a situation from time to time. April 8, 1859
April 13. A fair day, but a cool wind still, from the snow covered country in the northwest. It is, however, pleasant to sit in the sun in sheltered places. April 13, 1855
April 17. We hear but little music in the world which charms us more than this sound produced by the vibration of an insect's wing and in some still and sunny nook in spring. April 17, 1852
April 20. A willow coming out fairly, with honey-bees humming on it, in a warm nook. April 20, 1854
April 26. At this season still we go seeking the sunniest, most sheltered, and warmest place . . . We are in this like snakes that lie out on banks. In sunny and sheltered nooks we are in our best estate. There our thoughts flow and we flourish most. April 26, 1857
By and by we shall seek the shadiest and coolest place. How well adapted we are to our climate! In the winter we sit by fires in the house; in spring and fall, in sunny and sheltered nooks; in the summer, in shady and cool groves, or over water where the breeze circulates. April 26, 1857
What we should have called a warm day in March is a cold one at this date in April. It is the northwest wind makes it cold. Out of the wind it is warm. It is not, methinks, the same air at rest in one place and in motion in another, but the cold that is brought by the wind seems not to affect sheltered and sunny nooks. April 26, 1860
See also
A Change in the AirA 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 Geese Overhead 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 Skunks Active 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) The Woodchuck Ventures Out Walking without Gloves Woodpeckers Tapping
May 10. But now at last I do not go seeking the warm, sunny, and sheltered coves; the strong wind is enlivening and agreeable. May 10, 1857
May 22. I rest in the orchard, doubtful whether to sit in shade or sun. May 22, 1854
May 22. Is it not summer when we do not go seeking sunny and sheltered places, but also love the wind and shade? May 22, 1857
October 26. At this season we seek warm sunny lees and hillsides . . .where we cuddle and warm ourselves in the sun as by a fire, where we may get some of its reflected as well as direct heat. October 26, 1852
November 18. Now, as in the spring, we rejoice in sheltered and sunny places. November 18, 1857
See also
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau: I Have Seen Signs of the Spring:
A Change in the Air
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
https://tinyurl.com/HDTnook
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