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
I rarely failed to find, even in mid-winter,
some warm and springly swamp
where the grass and the skunk-cabbage
still put forth with perennial verdure,
and some hardier bird occasionally
awaited the return of spring
. ~ Walden
The sun-sparkles where
the river is open are
cheerful to behold.
Three ducks sailing the
river his afternoon though
these are coldest days.
 |
| White pine. Red pine. January 28, 2018 |
See three ducks sailing in the river behind Prichard's this afternoon, black with white on wings, though these two or three have been the coldest days of the winter, and the river is generally closed. January 28, 1853
Grew warmer toward night and snowed; but this soon turned to heavy rain in the night, which washed all the snow off the ice, leaving only bare ground and ice the county over by next morning. January 28, 1855
Minott says they wade in to where it is an inch deep and then "splutter splutter," throwing the water over them. January 28, 1857
Minott has a sharp ear for the note of any migrating bird. January 28, 1858
Maybe he listens all day for them, or they come and sing over his house, — report themselves to him and receive their season ticket. January 28, 1858
The other day the rumor went that a flock of geese had been seen flying north over Concord, midwinter as it was, by the almanac. I traced it to Minott. January 28, 1858
He thought that the back of the winter was broken, — if it had any this year, — but he feared such a winter would kill him too. January 28, 1858
I was silent; I reflected; I drew into my mind all its members, like the tortoise; I abandoned myself to unseen guides. January 28, 1858
Suddenly the truth flashed on me. January 28, 1858
I remembered that within a week I had heard of a box at the tavern, which had come by railroad express, containing three wild geese and directed to his neighbor over the brook. January 28, 1858
Melvin tells me that one with whom he deals below says that the best musquash skins come from Concord River, and it is because our musquash are so fat. January 28, 1859
About Brister's Spring the ferns, which have been covered with snow, and the grass are still quite green. January 28, 1852
The skunk-cabbage in the water is already pushed up, and I find the pinkish head of flowers within its spathe bigger than a pea. January 28, 1852
These warmer days the woodchopper finds that the wood cuts easier than when it had the frost in its sap-wood, though it does not split so readily. January 28, 1852
Thus every change in the weather has its influence on him, and is appreciated by him in a peculiar way. January 28, 1852
Coming through the village at 11 P.M., the sky is completely overcast, and the (perhaps thin) clouds are very distinctly pink or reddish, somewhat as if reflecting a distant fire, but this phenomenon is universal all round and overhead. I suspect there is a red aurora borealis behind. January 28, 1858
Grew warmer toward night and snowed; but this soon turned to heavy rain in the night, which washed all the snow off the ice, leaving only bare ground and ice the county over by next morning. January 28, 1855
Snows all day, about two inches falling. They say it snowed about the same all yesterday in New York. Clears up at night. January 28, 1856
Notice many heaps of leaves on snow on the hillside southwest of the pond, as usual. Probably the rain and thaw have brought down some of them. January 28, 1857
Am again surprised to see a song sparrow sitting for hours on our wood-pile in the yard, in the midst of snow in the yard. January 28, 1857
Remarkable that the coldest of all winters these summer birds should remain. January 28, 1857
In the afternoon this sparrow joined a flock of tree sparrows on the bare ground west of the house. January 28, 1857
The song sparrow did not go off with them. January 28, 1857
It was amusing to see the tree sparrows wash themselves, standing in the puddles and tossing the water over themselves. January 28, 1857
They have had no opportunity to wash for a month, perhaps, there having been no thaw. January 28, 1857
Am again surprised to see a song sparrow sitting for hours on our wood-pile in the yard, in the midst of snow in the yard. January 28, 1857
Remarkable that the coldest of all winters these summer birds should remain. January 28, 1857
In the afternoon this sparrow joined a flock of tree sparrows on the bare ground west of the house. January 28, 1857
The song sparrow did not go off with them. January 28, 1857
It was amusing to see the tree sparrows wash themselves, standing in the puddles and tossing the water over themselves. January 28, 1857
They have had no opportunity to wash for a month, perhaps, there having been no thaw. January 28, 1857
Minott says they wade in to where it is an inch deep and then "splutter splutter," throwing the water over them. January 28, 1857
Minott has a sharp ear for the note of any migrating bird. January 28, 1858
Maybe he listens all day for them, or they come and sing over his house, — report themselves to him and receive their season ticket. January 28, 1858
The other day the rumor went that a flock of geese had been seen flying north over Concord, midwinter as it was, by the almanac. I traced it to Minott. January 28, 1858
He thought that the back of the winter was broken, — if it had any this year, — but he feared such a winter would kill him too. January 28, 1858
I was silent; I reflected; I drew into my mind all its members, like the tortoise; I abandoned myself to unseen guides. January 28, 1858
Suddenly the truth flashed on me. January 28, 1858
I remembered that within a week I had heard of a box at the tavern, which had come by railroad express, containing three wild geese and directed to his neighbor over the brook. January 28, 1858
Melvin tells me that one with whom he deals below says that the best musquash skins come from Concord River, and it is because our musquash are so fat. January 28, 1859
About Brister's Spring the ferns, which have been covered with snow, and the grass are still quite green. January 28, 1852
The skunk-cabbage in the water is already pushed up, and I find the pinkish head of flowers within its spathe bigger than a pea. January 28, 1852
These warmer days the woodchopper finds that the wood cuts easier than when it had the frost in its sap-wood, though it does not split so readily. January 28, 1852
Thus every change in the weather has its influence on him, and is appreciated by him in a peculiar way. January 28, 1852
Coming through the village at 11 P.M., the sky is completely overcast, and the (perhaps thin) clouds are very distinctly pink or reddish, somewhat as if reflecting a distant fire, but this phenomenon is universal all round and overhead. I suspect there is a red aurora borealis behind. January 28, 1858
January 28, 2018
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Skunk Cabbage
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Musquash
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Tree Sparrow
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow
A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Sheldrake (Goosander, Merganser)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Northern Lights
January 28, 2018
August 26, 1859 (" I see sun-sparkles on the river, such as I have not seen for a long time. At any rate, they surprise me. There may be cool veins in the air now, any day. ")
September 2, 1856 ("Minott, whose mind runs on them [pigeons] so much, but whose age and infirmities confine him to his wood-shed on the hillside, saw a small flock a fortnight ago.. . . One man's mind running on pigeons, will sit thus in the midst of a village, many of whose inhabitants never see nor dream of a pigeon except in the pot, and where even naturalists do not observe, and he, looking out with expectation and faith from morning till night, will surely see them.")
September 30, 1857 ("Minott says he is seventy-five years old.")
November 8, 1851 ("Ah, those sun-sparkles on Dudley Pond in this November air! what a heaven to live in! Intensely brilliant, as no artificial light I have seen, like a dance of diamonds. Coarse mazes of a diamond dance seen through the trees.")September 2, 1856 ("Minott, whose mind runs on them [pigeons] so much, but whose age and infirmities confine him to his wood-shed on the hillside, saw a small flock a fortnight ago.. . . One man's mind running on pigeons, will sit thus in the midst of a village, many of whose inhabitants never see nor dream of a pigeon except in the pot, and where even naturalists do not observe, and he, looking out with expectation and faith from morning till night, will surely see them.")
September 30, 1857 ("Minott says he is seventy-five years old.")
December 27, 1852 ("Not a particle of ice in Walden to-day. . . . A black and white duck on it.")
January 2, 1859 ("Minott says that a fox will lead a dog on to thin ice in order that he may get in.)
January 8, 1857 ("Minott says he has lived where he now does as much as sixty years. He has not been up in town for three years, on account of his rheumatism ")
January 15, 1857 ("I saw, to my surprise, that it must be a song sparrow, . . .taken refuge in this shed”)
January 16, 1860 ("I see a flock of tree sparrows busily picking some thing from the surface of the snow amid some bushes.")
January 22, 1857 ("Minott tells me that Sam Barrett told him once when he went to mill that a song sparrow took up its quarters in his grist-mill and stayed there all winter.”)
January 22, 1860 ("Minott says that a hound which pursues a fox by scent cannot tell which way he is going; that the fox is very cunning and will often return on its track over which the dog had already run")
January 23, 1857 ("I may safely say that -5° has been the highest temperature to-day by our thermometer.")
January 23, 1863 ("Minott says that pigeons alight in great flocks on the tops of hemlocks in March, and he thinks they eat the seed.")
January 24, 1860 ("These birds, though they have bright brown and buff backs, hop about amid the little inequalities of the pasture almost unnoticed, such is their color and so humble are they.")
January 27, 1860 ("I occasionally hear a musquash plunge under the ice next the shore.")
January 29, 1853 (Melvin calls the ducks which I saw yesterday "sheldrakes"")
January 29, 1859 ("Many are out in boats, steering outside the ice of the river over the newly flooded meadows, shooting musquash.")
January 30, 1855 ("Minott to-day enumerates the red, gray, black, and what he calls the Sampson fox.")
February 1, 1853 ("Saw a duck in the river; different kind from the last")
February 2, 1858 ("As I return from the post-office, I hear the hoarse, robin-like chirp of a song sparrow on Cheney's ground, and see him perched on the top most twig of a heap of brush, looking forlorn and drabbled and solitary in the rain")
February 3, 1853 ("Saw three ducks in the river.")
February 20, 1857 ("Minott always sits in the corner behind the door, close to the stove, with commonly the cat by his side, often in his lap. Often he sits with his hat on")
February 21, 1855 ("Can it be true, as is said, that geese have gone over Boston, probably yesterday? It is in the newspapers")
February 27, 1860 ("This [sheldrake] is the first bird of the spring that I have seen or heard of.")
March 5, 1854 ("Channing, talking with Minott the other day about his health, said, " I suppose you 'd like to die now." "No," said Minott, "I 've toughed it through the winter, and I want to stay and hear the bluebirds once more."")
March 20, 1853 ("It is glorious to behold the life and joy of this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun. . . There is the difference between winter and spring. The bared face of the pond sparkles with joy.")
April 9, 1859 ("Standing low and more opposite to the sun, then all these dark-blue ripples are all sparkles too bright to look at.")
May 24, 1860 ("How perfectly new and fresh the world is seen to be, when we behold a myriad sparkles of brilliant white sunlight on a rippled stream!")
January 2, 1859 ("Minott says that a fox will lead a dog on to thin ice in order that he may get in.)
January 8, 1857 ("Minott says he has lived where he now does as much as sixty years. He has not been up in town for three years, on account of his rheumatism ")
January 15, 1857 ("I saw, to my surprise, that it must be a song sparrow, . . .taken refuge in this shed”)
January 16, 1860 ("I see a flock of tree sparrows busily picking some thing from the surface of the snow amid some bushes.")
January 22, 1857 ("Minott tells me that Sam Barrett told him once when he went to mill that a song sparrow took up its quarters in his grist-mill and stayed there all winter.”)
January 22, 1860 ("Minott says that a hound which pursues a fox by scent cannot tell which way he is going; that the fox is very cunning and will often return on its track over which the dog had already run")
January 23, 1857 ("I may safely say that -5° has been the highest temperature to-day by our thermometer.")
January 23, 1863 ("Minott says that pigeons alight in great flocks on the tops of hemlocks in March, and he thinks they eat the seed.")
January 24, 1860 ("These birds, though they have bright brown and buff backs, hop about amid the little inequalities of the pasture almost unnoticed, such is their color and so humble are they.")
January 27, 1860 ("I occasionally hear a musquash plunge under the ice next the shore.")
January 29, 1853 (Melvin calls the ducks which I saw yesterday "sheldrakes"")
January 29, 1859 ("Many are out in boats, steering outside the ice of the river over the newly flooded meadows, shooting musquash.")
January 30, 1855 ("Minott to-day enumerates the red, gray, black, and what he calls the Sampson fox.")
February 1, 1853 ("Saw a duck in the river; different kind from the last")
February 2, 1858 ("As I return from the post-office, I hear the hoarse, robin-like chirp of a song sparrow on Cheney's ground, and see him perched on the top most twig of a heap of brush, looking forlorn and drabbled and solitary in the rain")
February 3, 1853 ("Saw three ducks in the river.")
February 20, 1857 ("Minott always sits in the corner behind the door, close to the stove, with commonly the cat by his side, often in his lap. Often he sits with his hat on")
February 21, 1855 ("Can it be true, as is said, that geese have gone over Boston, probably yesterday? It is in the newspapers")
February 27, 1860 ("This [sheldrake] is the first bird of the spring that I have seen or heard of.")
March 5, 1854 ("Channing, talking with Minott the other day about his health, said, " I suppose you 'd like to die now." "No," said Minott, "I 've toughed it through the winter, and I want to stay and hear the bluebirds once more."")
March 20, 1853 ("It is glorious to behold the life and joy of this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun. . . There is the difference between winter and spring. The bared face of the pond sparkles with joy.")
April 9, 1859 ("Standing low and more opposite to the sun, then all these dark-blue ripples are all sparkles too bright to look at.")
May 24, 1860 ("How perfectly new and fresh the world is seen to be, when we behold a myriad sparkles of brilliant white sunlight on a rippled stream!")
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January 28, 2019 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. http://tinyurl.com/hdt28jan |
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