Friday, February 16, 2024

A Book of the Seasons, Signs of the Spring: The Eaves Begin to Run



No mortal is alert enough to be present at the first dawn of the spring. 

Henry Thoreau, March 17, 1857


It is so long since I have heard it, that the steady,
soaking, rushing sound of the rain on the shingles is musical.
The fire needs no replenishing, and we save our fuel.
It seems like a distant forerunner of spring.
February 15, 1855


January 7. You hear (in the house) the unusual sound of the eaves running. January 7, 1860

February 1The eaves have scarcely run at all. It has been what is called “an old-fashioned winter." February 1, 1856


February  8. The snow is soft, and the eaves begin to run as not for many weeks. February 8, 1856


February 11. It is now fairly thawing, the eaves running; and puddles stand in some places. February 11, 1856

February 12. The eaves run fast on the south side of houses, and, as usual in this state of the air, the cawing of crows at a distance. February 12, 1855


February 12.. Thawed all day yesterday and rained some what last night; clearing off this morning. Heard the eaves drop all night. The thermometer at 8.30 A. M., 42°. . . .How different the sunlight over thawing snow . . . I experience a springlike melting in my thoughts.") February 12, 1856

February 15. It is so long since I have heard it, that the steady, soaking, rushing sound of the rain on the shingles is musical. The fire needs no replenishing,
and we save our fuel. It seems like a distant forerunner of spring. It is because I am allied to the elements that the sound of the rain is thus soothing to me. The sound soaks into my spirit, as the water into the earth, reminding me of the season when snow and ice will be no more, when the earth will be thawed and drink up the rain as fast as it falls. February 15, 1855

February 15. Then the gentle, spring-like rain begins, and we turn about. The sound of it pattering on the dry oak leaves . . . is just like that of wind stirring them, when first heard, but is steady and monotonous and so betrayed. February 15, 1859

February 16. I hear the eaves running before I come out, and our thermometer at 2 P. M. is 38°. The sun is most pleasantly warm on my cheek; the melting snow shines in the ruts; the cocks crow more than usual in barns; my greatcoat is an incumbrance. February 16, 1856

February 23. I have seen signs of the spring. February 23, 1857

March 21. Warm rain, April-like, the first of the season . . . This first spring rain is very agreeable. I love to hear the pattering of the drops on my umbrella, and I love also the wet scent of the umbrella. March 21, 1858

See also Signs of the Spring:

  <<<<< Signs of Spring                                                           Early Spring >>>>>



A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring;

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




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