Late Winter

It occurred to me yesterday that the way we talk about the time of the year is very much biased in favor of the warm seasons: we talk of  February-March as early spring, not late winter, and October is late summer, not early autumn.

I have begun to see flowers. Some plums have been blooming for over two weeks, and I saw (and smelled) witch-hazels (Hamamelis sp.) last week. I have not seen any Forsythia flowers yet, although I have a memory of them as being the earliest ones we used to get.

At the same time, it does not feel like spring yet. It is fairly cold, and frequently wet. Most of all, when the sun does come out, it feels like winter sun. It is a fool's errand to try and put into words what I mean by that. I will instead notice that the quality of the light is what gives late summer, too, its distinctive feeling. Winter sun makes one want to find a place in the lee so one can bask. That never happens in full summer (except, maybe, to mad dogs and Englishmen).

Witch-hazel