A Book of the Seasons, Signs of the Spring: First silvery sheen from needles of the white pine waving in the wind

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

Henry Thoreau, March 17, 1857

First silvery sheen

from needles of the white pine
waving in the wind.
February 25, 1860

February 4. Now the white pine are a misty blue; anon a lively, silvery light plays on them, and they seem to erect themselves unusually.  February 4, 1852 

February 5. The boughs, feathery boughs, of the white pines, tier above tier, reflect a silvery light against the darkness of the grove.  February 5, 1852 

February 10.  I see that Wheildon's pines are rocking and showing their silvery under sides as last spring, — their first awakening, as it were. February 10, 1860 

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

February 25. I noticed yesterday the first conspicuous silvery sheen from the needles of the white pine waving in the wind. A small one was conspicuous by the side of the road more than a quarter of a mile ahead. I suspect that those plumes which have been appressed or contracted by snow and ice are not only dried but opened and spread by the wind. February 25, 1860

March 2. I see a row of white pines, too, waving and reflecting their silvery light. March 2, 1860 

March 20. In this spring breeze, how full of life the silvery pines, probably the under sides of their leaves. March 20, 1853

March 21.  That fine silvery light reflected from its needles (perhaps their undersides) incessantly in motion. March 21, 1859

See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, I Have Seen Signs of the Spring:

• A Change in the Air
• A 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
• First silvery sheen from needles of the white pine waving in the wind
• 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

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Osier in Winter and early Spring
A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, February 25 

 

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

First silvery sheen from needles of the white pine waving in the wind

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