February Thaw

After being stuck in the deep freeze for weeks, today it is 39 degrees. The sun is shining on the west side of the house and melted snow is dripping from the eaves. It's warm enough to let Betty and Parker Barnie (our little cats) spend their energy outside instead of nibbling on my plants in the house. In some places there is blacktop showing through our icy driveway, thanks to the efforts of the men of the house. The days seem to be getting longer, too. I remember hearing a meteorologist say around December 21 that by the end of January, we'd gain 55 minutes of daylight. We're halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox. I checked the weather report for the south shore of Lake Superior, and it's as warm there as it is here!

No doubt, however, the cold will return and we'll feel cooped up again, and have to dress in layers when we go out instead of throwing on a jacket, and my son will keep a fire in the fireplace pretty much around the clock. But it's a little easier to take all that when the days lengthen and the snow melts a bit and we know that winter will not last forever.

One of the inside projects we've had on the to do list for the past few years finally got accomplished last week, thanks to the efforts of my husband. The bathroom has a new coat of paint, new lights, and new hardware on the vanity. I've always liked the shades of turquoise, gold, orange and deep maroons of the southwest. (At least, it seems like the southwest to me.) Trying to work with those colors got a little frustrating until I realized that Lake Superior agates, tinged with iron, are often reddish or light maroon. Gathering all the agates we've collected over the years into a vase to put on the vanity got me thinking that we could hang those framed posters of Split Rock Lighthouse on the bathroom walls (we have very high ceilings), and oh, yeah, we had this decorative map of Lake Superior, and ShopKo had the perfect frame for it, marked down from $50 to $15. So now we have a Lake Superior themed bathroom. HGTV wouldn't like it, but hey, it's our house and we're both crazy about the big lake!
Till next time - watch for spring, watch for the return of the light.