"Loud are the thunder drums in the tents of
the mountains.
Oh, long, long
Have we eaten chia seeds
and dried deer's flesh of the summer killing.
We are tired of our huts
and the smoky smell of our clothing.
We are sick with the desire for the sun
And the grass on the mountain."
- Paiute Late Winter Song
"Winter is the
time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and
for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."
- Edith Sitwell
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"February is a
suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and
frozen so
that the appearance of green shoots two months hence seems
preposterous, the ground hard and
cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful,
hanging on too long."
- Anna Quindlen, One True Thing
"Keep your faith in beautiful things;
in the sun when it is hidden,
in the Spring when it is gone."
- Roy R. Gibson
Note: This webpage is now updated and maintained at a new location.
"Rich meanings
of the prophet-Spring adorn,
Unseen, this colourless sky of folded showers,
And folded winds; no blossom in the bowers;
A poet's face asleep in this grey morn.
Now in the midst of the old world forlorn
A mystic child is set in these still hours.
I keep this time, even before the flowers,
Sacred to all the young and the unborn."
- Alice Meynell, In February
"The word February is believed to have
derived from the name 'Februa' taken from the Roman
'Festival of Purification'. The root 'februo' meaning
to 'I purify by sacrifice'. As part of the seasonal
calendar February is
the time of the 'Ice Moon' according to Pagan beliefs, and the period
described
as the 'Moon of the Dark Red Calf' by Black Elk. February has also
been known as 'Sprout-kale'
by the Anglo-Saxons in relation to the time the kale and cabbage was edible."
- Mystical
WWW
"Late February, and the air's so balmy
snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled
into early blooming.
Then, the inevitable blizzard
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
and the numbed yards will
go back undercover.
In Florida, it's strawberry season—
shortcake, waffles, berries and cream
will
be penciled on the coffeeshop menus."
- Gail Mazur, The
Idea of Florida During a Winter Thaw
by Andrew Chevallier
by David Hoffmann 
by Barbara Pleasant
by Grahame Clarke
"Away in a meadow all covered with snow
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early or late."
- Don
Halley
"Announced by all the trumpets of
the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the withered air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveler stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, and housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The flowers of late winter and early
spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size."
- Gertrude S. Wister
"Surely as cometh
the Winter, I know
There are Spring violets under the snow."
- R. H. Newell
"Still lie the
sheltering snows, undimmed and white;
And reigns the winter's pregnant silence still;
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill,
And willow stems grow daily red and bright.
These are days when ancients held a rite
Of expiation for the old year's ill,
And prayer to purify the new year's will."
- Helen Hunt
Jackson, A Calendar of Sonnet's: February
"Most people, early in
November, take last looks at their gardens, are are then prepared to ignore them
until the spring. I am quite sure that a garden doesn't like to be ignored
like this. It doesn't like to be
covered in dust sheets, as though it were an old room which you had shut up
during the winter. Especially
since a garden knows how gay and delightful it can be, even in the very frozen
heart of the winter,
if you only give it a chance."
- Beverley Nichols
"If apples were pears
And peaches were plums
And the rose had a different name.
If tigers were bears
And fingers were thumbs
I'd love you just the same."
- Valentine's
Day Songs and Poems
"Wishing and wanting
to see you,
I step on thin ice."
- Madoka
Mayuzumi
Detailed annual calendar and engaging short essays. 
Great craft ideas.
"February is merely as long as is
needed to pass the time until March."
- Dr. J. R. Stockton
"Awakening,
I hear the truth--
grey rain on clay."
- Michael P. Garofalo, Cuttings
"Every gardener knows that under the
cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a
bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.
And the anticipation nurtures our dream."
- Barbara Winkler
"The birds are gone, The
ground is white,
The winds are wild, They chill and bite;
The ground is thick with slush and sleet,
And I barely feel my feet."
- Winter
Poems
"Standing in a valley,
With the mist coming in,
Berries grow on the holly bushes.
Robins hide in snow-ridden woods.
If I could stay here, I would."
- Bethan
Williams
"In winter's
cold and sparkling snow,
The garden in my mind does grow.
I look outside to blinding white,
And see my tulips blooming bright.
And over there a sweet carnation,
Softly scents my imagination.
On this cold and freezing day,
The Russian sage does gently sway,
And miniature roses perfume the air,
I can see them blooming there.
Though days are short, my vision's clear.
And through the snow, the buds appear.
In my mind, clematis climbs,
And morning glories do entwine.
Woodland phlox and scarlet pinks,
Replace the frost, if I just blink.
My inner eye sees past the snow.
And in my mind, my garden grows."
- Cynthia Adams, Winter Garden
"O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth."
- John Davies, 1570-1626, Ode to the West Wind
"Go to the
winter woods: listen there, look, watch, and “the dead months” will give you a subtler
secret than any you have yet found in the forest."
- Fiona Macleod, Where the Forest Murmurs
"Winter, a
lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey,
and enjoy every idle hour."
- John Boswell
"From December to March, there are for many of
us
three gardens:
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye."
- Katherine S. White
"He knows no winter, he who loves the soil,
For, stormy days, when he is free from toil,
He plans his summer crops, selects his seeds
From bright-paged catalogues for garden needs.
When looking out upon frost-silvered fields,
He visualizes autumn's golden yields;
He sees in snow and sleet and icy rain
Precious moisture for his early grain;
He hears spring-heralds in the storm's ' turmoil
He knows no winter, he who loves the soil."
- Sudie Stuart Hager, He Knows No Winter
"Winter is
nature's way of saying, "Up yours.""
- Robert Byrne
"Let us love
winter, for it is the spring of genius."
- Pietro Aretino
by Ashleen O'Gaea. A good
study of four spring and summer celebrations that is rich with details and ideas.
by Edain McCoy. Practical suggestions for seasonal holiday celebrations.
Nice crafts and activities.
"Dreaming time has reversed, I watch drowned snow
Appear to lift up from the lake;
Reshaping magnified, each risen flake
Looms in the air, deliberate and slow,
Allowing me to let your picture form and wake
Astonished that you have returned to go
To watch me watch drowned snow lift from the lake.
Dreaming time has reversed—and you,
Your red cheeks radiant against the wind,
Are gliding toward me on the ice into
A frame of glided twilight—I
Again awaken from your being gone to find
Your gloved hands covering your lips' good-bye
So you can watch me watch uplifted snow
As if your absence now concluded long ago."
- Robert Pack, Snow Rise
"The hills step off into whiteness.
People or stars
Regard me sadly, I disappoint them.
The train leaves a line of breath.
O slow
Horse the colour of rust,
Hooves, dolorous bells ----
All morning the
Morning has been blackening,
A flower left out.
My bones hold a stillness, the far
Fields melt my heart.
They threaten
To let me through to a heaven
Starless and fatherless, a dark water."
- Sylvia Plath, Sheep in Fog
by Sally Roth
by Patricia Montley. Respectful and engaging review. 
by E. Barrie Kavasch
by Jason Hunt
"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant."
- Anne Bradstreet
"Every mile is two in winter."
- George Herbert
"The day is
ending,
The night is descending;
The marsh is frozen,
The river dead.
Through clouds like ashes
The red sun flashes
On village windows
That glimmer red."
- Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, Afternoon in February
by Brian Nelson
by Christopher Hill
by Ian Corrigan. Thoughtful poems and rituals for seasonal holidays by a
lively and wise Druid Bard. 
by Ellen Evert Hopman
"Gung Hay Fat Choy!"
In China, every girl and boy
Celebrates the New Year
in a very special way -
With fireworks and dragons,
colored red and gold -
They welcome in the new year
and chase away the old!
- Helen H. Moore
"I stood beside
a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.
There was no other creature
That saw what I could see--
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me."
- Sara Teasdale, February
Twilight
"Nature has undoubtedly mastered the art
of winter gardening and even the
most experienced
gardener can learn from the unrestrained beauty around them."
- Vincent A. Simeone
"Freezing
cold winds,
biting chills, and
white snow fluffed hills
Valentines day, oh how gay!
presidents' day is coming our way.
February, sweet and small, greatest month of all."
- Eric Lies, 28 Word Poem for February
"Winter dies into the spring, to
be born again in the autumn."
- Marche Blumenberg
"Wan February with weeping cheer,
Whose cold hand guides the youngling year
Down misty roads of mire and rime,
Before thy pale and fitful face
The shrill wind shifts the clouds apace
Through skies the morning scarce may climb.
Thine eyes are thick with heavy tears,
But lit with hopes that light the year's."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Year's Carols: February
by Helen Thompson
by Sarah Ainley. Some good suggestions for beautiful gifts.
"Blessings
are the things we take for granted.
Each holiday we notice what we see.
Most know the Earth is utterly enchanted
Yet walk through life and love mechanically.
Valuing one's gifts takes resolution
After days and nights of fantasy.
Love brings the sweet relief of absolution,
Enveloping our hesitance in need.
No touch inspires so swift a revolution,
Transforming all the hieroglyphs we read.
In your love is the charity of spring,
Nor self-obsessed nor
blinded by some creed,
Embracing the grey dawns that blessings bring."
- Cornelius Lyons
"There is nothing here
except the constant, looping clicks and caws
of birds, lost in trees erased by white.
My sight condensed
by each fresh, foggy breath,
a hanging depth
my head sinks through.
Nothing here
but mulching steps,
the soft snap of twigs long soaking,
the sticky sound
of car tire on wet road.
I am drenched
by a sudden gang-up of water,
a brief yawn of thunder far away.
There is nothing here
and I am all wet."
- John Goss, Fog
"For all
practical purposes nature is at a standstill... there is a wonderful joy in leaving behind the noisy city streets and starting out along the white road that leads across the hills.
With each breath of the sharp, reviving air one seems to inhale new life. A peace as evident as the sunshine on the fields takes possession of one's inner being. The trivial cares which fretted like a swarm of mosquitoes are driven away by the first sweep of wind that comes straight from the mountains. ... The intense silence that broods over the snow-bound land is a conscious blessing. The deep blue of the sky and the purple shadows cast by the trees and plants are a feast to the eye. The crunch of the snow-rind beneath our feet and the varied hum of the telegraph wires overhead are music to our ears."
- Frances Theodora Parsons
"Was it the smile of early spring
That made my bosom glow?
'Twas sweet, but neither sun nor wind
Could raise my spirit so.
Was it some feeling of delight,
All vague and undefined?
No, 'twas a rapture deep and strong,
Expanding in the mind!"
- Anne Bronte, In Memory of A Happy Day in February
"Grave stone
Wearing a
rosary
Christmas!
Colour purple
Dream burning,
February's sea."
- Sadayo
Takizawa, Winter
"Winter is the
time of promise because there is so little to do - or because you can now and
then permit
yourself the luxury of thinking so."
- Stanley Crawford
"See the falling snowflakes
drifting by the pane,
Winging glasslike angels
falling just like rain.
The air is crisp and stirring,
the freshly fallen snow.
And the warmth I'm feeling inside,
sets my eyes aglow.
This winter's day has come before
and will come again.
It finds it's way to Earth
every now and then."
- Linda A. Copp,
A Winter's Day
Selected by Barbara Rogansky
Selected by Robert Atwan
Edited by Gary Schmidt
Selected by Christina Hardyment
by Helen Thompson
Selected by Carolyn Edwards
by Caitlin Matthews
"Be off!" say Winter's snows;
"Now it's my turn to sing!"
So, startled, quivering,
Not daring to oppose
(Our fortitude grows dim in
The face of a Quos ego),
Away, my songs, must we go
Before those virile women!
Rain. We are forced to fly,
Everywhere, utterly.
End of the comedy.
Come, swallows, it's good-bye.
Wind, sleet. The branches sway,
Writhing their stunted limbs,
And off the white smoke swims
Across the heavens' gray.
A pallid yellow lingers
Over the chilly dale.
My keyhole blows a gale
Onto my frozen fingers."
- Victor Hugo, Be Off Winter Snow
"Falling and
rising - spheres of blackbirds.
Coming and
going - lines of geese."
- Michael P. Garofalo, Cuttings
"Winter came down
to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again."
- Bill Morgan, Jr.
"February, when
the days of winter seem endless and no amount of wistful recollecting can bring
back
any air of summer."
- Shirley Jackson, Raising Demons
"In tangled wreath, in clustered gleaming
stars,
In floating, curling sprays,
The golden flower comes shining though the woods
These February days;
Forth go all hearts, all hands, from out the town,
To bring her gayly in,
This wild, sweet Princess of far Florida -
The yellow jessamine."
- Constance Fenimore Woolson, Yellow Jessamine
"Winter teaches us about detachment, numbness. But it’s a
way to get through.
From winter we learn silence and acceptance and the stillness thickens."
- Gail Barison, The Winter Solstice of my Soul
by Mark
Coleman
by
Wendy Johnson. A wise woman in touch with Earth and Mind.
"February makes a bridge and
March breaks it."
- George Hebert
"There is
a privacy about winter which no other season gives you … Only in winter…can you have longer,
quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself."
- Ruth Stout, How to Have a Green Thumb without
an Aching Back
"There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.
None may teach it anything,
’T is the seal, despair,—
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ’t is like the distance
On the look of death."
- Emily Dickenson, #82
"There's a grassy slope not far away
Where thousands of Narcissus bloom,
And I catch my breath, as I watch them sway
Tossing their sweet perfume.
Gaily they nod their dear little heads
And smilingly welcome me,
As they spring up fresh from their winter beds,
Eager for company.
Their round white faces fair and clean
Are purer than frost or snow,
And I thank the hands, tho' now unseen;
That planted them, long ago."
- Nora McFarlane, Hillside Narcissus
by Ashleen O'Gaea. A good
study of four spring and summer celebrations that is rich with details and ideas.
by Edain McCoy. Practical suggestions for seasonal holiday celebrations.
"From Heaven I fall, though from
earth I begin.
No lady alive can show such a skin.
I'm bright as an angel, and light as a feather,
But heavy and dark, when you squeeze me together.
Though candor and truth in my
aspect I bear,
Yet many poor creatures I help to insnare.
Though so much of Heaven appears in my make,
The foulest impressions I easily take.
My parent and I produce one
another,
The mother the daughter, the daughter the mother."
- James Parton, A Riddle - On Snow
"Reeds, snake-like, coiled in the mist
Where the low fog drives:
The muddy cough of the stream that strives
To free its throat from the clot of reed,
As they fight it out the water and the weed--
While the fog, above, takes turn and twist:
Men, these are your lives!
Wild geese across the moon:
As some hand that unrolls
And scratches black names upon blood-red scrolls;
So seem these shadows, dipping, dying,
Black shapes on the red moon, screaming, flying,
Till the fog blots out, or late or soon:
Men, these are your souls! "
- Muriel Stuart, Wild Geese Across the Moon
"Winter is a time of promise because there is so little to
do, or because you can now and then
permit yourself the luxury of thinking so."
- Stanley Crawford
by Christopher Hill
by Ian Corrigan. Thoughtful poems and rituals for seasonal holidays by a
lively and wise Bard. 
by Clare Cooper Marcus
"Dead of winter.
Cold hands warm heart.
As pure as snow.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
Now is the winter of our discontent.
Left out in the cold."
- Clichés
for Gardeners
"Candlemas' is the Christianized name for the
holiday, of course. The older Pagan
names were Imbolc and Oimelc. 'Imbolc' means, literally, 'in the belly' (of the
Mother).
For in the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our mundane sight but sensed by
a keener vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted in her womb at
the solstice is quickening and the new year grows. 'Oimelc' means 'milk of ewes',
for it is also lambing season. The holiday is also called 'Brigit's Day', in
honor of the great Irish Goddess Brigit. At her shrine, the ancient Irish capitol of
Kildare, a group of 19 priestesses (no men allowed) kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. She
was considered a goddess of fire, patroness of smithcraft, poetry and
healing (especially the healing touch of
midwifery)."
- Daven's
Journal - Imbolic
"Why, what's the
matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"
- William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
"Come when the
rains
Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
While the slant sun of February pours
Into the bowers a flood of light. Approach!
The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps
And the broad arching portals of the grove
Welcome thy entering."
- William Cullen Bryant, A Winter Piece
"The
February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves
within."
- William C. Bryant
"February, fill the dyke with what thou dost like."
- Thomas Tusser
"Out of the bosom of the
Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Snowflakes
"Valentine's Day is most closely associated
with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern
Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged
Cupid. Since the
19th
century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced
greeting cards. The mid-nineteenth century Valentine's Day trade was a
harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the United States to follow.
The U.S.
Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion
valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest
card-sending holiday of the year behind
Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all
valentines."
-
Valentine's Day - Wikipedia
"Tinsel in
February, tinsel in August.
There are things in a man besides his reason."
- Wallace Stevens
"There is a privacy about it which no other
season gives you ..... In spring, summer
and fall people sort of
have an open season on
each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches
when
you can savor
belonging to yourself."
- Ruth Stout
"The most serious
charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February."
- Joseph Wood Krutch
"And for the season it was winter, and they that know the
winters of that country know them to be sharp
and violent, and subject to cruel
and fierce storms . . . For summer being done, all things stand upon them
with a
weather-beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets,
represented a
wild and savage hue."
- William Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, 1640
"I stood beside a
hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.
There was not other creature
That saw what I could see,
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me."
- Sara Teasdale, February Twilight
"January cold and desolate;
February dripping wet;
March wind ranges;
April changes;
Birds sing in tune
To flowers of May,
And sunny June
Brings longest day;
In scorched July
The storm-clouds fly,
Lightning-torn;
August bears corn,
September fruit;
In rough October
Earth must disrobe her;
Stars fall and shoot
In keen November;
And night is long
And cold is strong
In bleak December."
- Christina Giorgina Rossetti, The Months
"January gray is
here,
Like a sexton by her grave;
February bears the bier,
March with grief doth howl and rave,
And April weeps—but, O ye hours!
Follow with May’s fairest flowers."
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, Dirge for the Year
"Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
February has twenty-eight alone,
All the rest have thirty-one;
Excepting leap year, that 's the time
When February's days are twenty-nine."
"In seed time
learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."
- William Blake
"There is
nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow. It is the
still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig,
is clad with radiance."
- William Sharp
"The cold was our pride, the snow was our beauty.
It fell and fell, lacing day and night
together in a
milky haze, making everything quieter as it fell, so that winter seemed
to partake of religion in a way
no other season did, hushed, solemn."
- Patricia Hampl
by Kathy Ross 
by Joanne Weir
by Helen Thompson
by Nancy Castaldo
"Dead of winter.
Cold hands warm heart.
As pure as snow.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
Now is the winter of our discontent.
Left out in the cold."
- Clichés
for Gardeners
"One must have a mind of
winter
To regard the frost and boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not
to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves
Which is the sound of the
land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who
listens in the snow,
An, nothing himslef, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is."
- Wallace Stevens, The Snow Man, 1923
"Late February
days; and now, at last,
Might you have thought that
Winter's woe was past;
So fair the sky was and so soft the air."
- William Morris
"When daffodils
begin to peer,
With the heigh! the doxy over the dale,
When, then comes in the sweet o' the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale."
- William Shakespeare
"I listen to you explain the
difference
between a right brain thought and a left.
I am distracted by the smell
of cold on your face.
I lick it away like a child
with an ice cream cone
sticky fingers and sweet tongue.
Aware that I have been here before
I pause in your words.
I have slept in this flesh,
dreamed these winter bones.
Waking in the darkness between us
I hear frost sweeping the porch,
edging toward the morning.
I reach for your hand.
What, you whisper, voice hoarse with dream.
My lips, swollen with you, cold,
are silent."
- Joyce Wakefield, Winter
Conversation
|
Months and Seasons Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Verses, Lore, Myths, Holidays Celebrations, Folklore, Reading, Links, Quotations Information, Weather, Gardening Chores |
|||
| Winter | Spring | Summer | Fall |
| January | April | July | October |
| February | May | August | November |
| March | June | September | December |
"We may owe our
observance of Valentine's Day to the Roman celebration of Lupercalia, a festival
of
eroticism that honored Juno Februata, the goddess of "feverish" (febris)
love. Annually, on the ides
of February, love notes or "billets" would be drawn
to partner men and women for feasting
and sexual game playing."
-
Saint Valentine's Day
"The February born will
find
Sincerity and peace of mind;
Freedom from passion and from care,
If they the Pearl (also green Amethyst) will wear."
"In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood had as iron,
Water like a stone,
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago."
- Christina Rossetti
"I'm a little
groundhog, it's my day.
Wake and stretch, go out and play.
Down in my burrow, down so deep,
Time to wake, from my long winter's sleep.
Grumble, grumble,
scratch, scratch,
Grunt, grunt, yawn.
I'll eat my breakfast in your front lawn.
I'm a little groundhog, it's my day.
Wake up and stretch, go out and play.'
- Author Unknown
"I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.
The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
New Page 1That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware."
- Thomas Hardy, A Darkling Thrush
"Probably more pests can be controlled in an armchair in
front of a February fire with a garden notebook
and a seed catalog that can ever be knocked out in hand-to-hand combat in the
garden."
- Neely Turner
Astrological Signs: Aquarius, January 20 - February 18
Astrological Signs: Pisces, February 19 - March 20
February Birthstones: Amethyst
Detailed annual calendar and engaging short essays.
Great craft ideas.
"Winter garden,
the moon thinned to a thread,
insects singing."
- Matsuo Basho
"Valentine's Day is thought to have
evolved from a spring holiday celebrated in the days of ancient Rome. The feast
of Lupercalia was actually celebrated on February 15 and honored the god
Lupercus, who protected the people and their herds from wolves. On this day,
dances were held for all the single young men and women. A man would draw his
partner's name from a piece of papyrus placed in a bowl. The man not only danced
with his partner but was also obligated to protect her throughout the new year,
which began in March. In many cases, the partners became sweethearts and were
soon married. When the tradition of these dances was later revived in the Middle
Ages, a man would wear his sweetheart's name on his sleeve. Even today we refer
to someone quick to show feeling as "wearing his heart on his sleeve.""
-
Valentine's Day Legends
"A melancholy mantle rests
Upon the land; the sea.
The wind in tristful cadence moans
A mournful threnody.
There flits no gleeful insect,
No blithesome bee nor bird;
0'er all the vast of Nature
No joyful sound is heard.
In garments sere and somber
Each, vine and tree is clad:
It's dreary-hearted winter,
And all the earth is sad."
- Hazel Dell Crandall, The Lilt o' the Year
"There seems to be so much more winter than we
need this year."
- Kathleen Norris
by Mark
Coleman
by
Robert M. Hamma 
by Thomas Becknell
by Bill Plotkin
"The season's anguish, crashing whirlwind,
ice,
Have passed, and cleansed the trodden paths,
That silent gardeners have strewn with ash.
The iron circles of the sky,
Are worn away by tempest;
Yet in this garden there is no more strife:
The Winter's knife is buried in the earth.
Pure music is the cry that tears
The birdless branches in the wind.
No blossom is reborn. The blue
Stare of the pond is blind.
And no one sees
A restless stranger through the morning stray
Across the sodden lawn, whose eyes
Are tired of weeping, in whose breast
A savage sun consumes its hidden day."
- David Gascoyne, Winter Garden
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Above the Fog. Taoist and Zen Poems. By Michael P. Garofalo.
Worldwide Links to Mythologies,Fairy Tales & Folklore, Sacred Arts & Sacred Traditions. By Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.
Ancient Origins of the Holidays
February - Mystical World Wide Web
February - Poems, Quotes, Folklore, Ideas, Chores
Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for all Seasons and Reasons by Morning Glory and Oberon Zell-Ravenheart.
Cupid, Luperci, and the Valentine's Day Saints
Cuttings - February. Haiku and short poems by Michael P. Garofalo.
Epiphany - Links and Resources
Fairies, Elves and Nature Spirits
February Holiday Themes: Links and Ideas for Teachers
Ground Hog Day Information Site
Groundhog Day Links - Open Directory
In Nature's Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth by Patricia Montley
January: Quotes, Poems, Links, Lore
Llewellyn's Magical Almanac: Practical Magic for Everyday Living, Annual Editions.
Llewellyn's Sabbats Almanac, Annual Editions
March: Quotes, Poems, Links, Lore
Months - Quotes, Poems, Folklore, Links, Chores
One Old Druid's Journey: Notebooks of the Librarian of Gushen Grove
Quotes for Gardeners. Over 3,800 quotes arranged by over 250 topics.
Saint Bridget's Cross - Weaving Craft
Spring - Quotes, Poems, Sayings and Quips for Gardeners
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, French Medieval Book of Hours, 1412
Valentine's Day Links - Open Directory
Winter and Snow Theme Page for Teachers
Typical Seasonal Weather for Our Area, USDA Zone 9 Normally, in February, we have daytime high temperatures of 59ºF, nighttime low temperatures of 40ºF, and we get 3.4 inches of rain.
Our Paths in the Valley Blog Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, resources, quotes, poems, and photos.
Weather Lore More Weather Lore Naturalist's Almanac
February Weather Lore
A wet February, a wet Spring.
Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail.
If Candlemas be fair and clear, there'll be two winters in the year.
If a hedgehog casts a shadow at noon, Winter will return.
“Février
l’pu court éd chés moés, ch’est l’pire chint foés”.
February is the shortest month and by far the worst.
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Typical Seasonal Weather for Our Area, USDA Zone 9 Normally, in February, we have high daytime temperatures of 59ºF, low nighttime temperatures of 40ºF, and get 3.4 inches of rain.
Red Bluff Gardening Notebooks of Karen and Mike Garofalo
Our Paths in the Valley Blog Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, resources, quotes, poems, and photos.
February Garden Activities and
Chores in
Red Bluff
USDA Zone 9
Browsing and ordering from seed and garden catalogs.
Pruning leafless trees and shrubs.
Weeding and tending the winter vegetable garden.
Relax and read books from the library.
The soil is usually too wet and cold for much digging.
Keeping cold sensitive potted plants in protected areas or indoors.
Make sure that the cuttings in protected areas do not dry out.
Repair fences.
Put straw mulch over fertilized vegetable garden areas not planted.
Distribute fertilizer and minerals.
Prune and mulch dormant perennials.
Remove dead trees, shrubs, branches, and twigs.
Enjoy the bulbs and rosemary in bloom.
Repair and sharpen tools.
Construct gardening boxes and flats.
Keep hardwood cuttings moist.
Write a poem. Keep a gardening journal.
Fertilize with 20-9-9 or 15-15-15.
Trees without leaves need little or no watering.
Take a walk in your garden.
Sit and observe.
February Gardening Chores and
Tips for U.S.A. Zones
Oak Hill February Tips - Georgia
Oregon State University February Tips
Earth Wise Creations February Tips - Zone 9
Seasonal Garden Chores - Links
Top Garden Projects for February in the Pacific Northwest by Ed Hume
52 Weeks in the California Garden by Richard Smaus
February Gardening Tips from Ortho
Monthly Garden Tasks in an English County Garden
February Gardening Chores - Links
The Gay Gardener - Monthly Chores
The Garden Helper Tips for February - Northern U.S.
Fruits and Nuts - February Tips - Virginia
Gardening Tips - February - New York Botanical Garden
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Red Bluff Gardens - Comparison from 1998 - 2007
Red Bluff Gardening Notebooks of Karen and Mike Garofalo
Our Paths in the Valley Blog Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, resources, quotes, poems, and photos.
All photographs taken by Karen Garofalo.
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The Spirit of Gardening
Website
Over 3,800 Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Quips, One-Liners, Clichés, Quotes, and
Insights
Arranged by Over 250 Topics
Over 15 Megabytes of Text
Over 21 Million Webpages (excluding graphics) Served to Readers Around the World
From January 1, 1999 through March 1, 2011
This webpage has been online since January 1999
Compiled by Karen Garofalo
and Mike Garofalo from Red
Bluff, California
How can you help Karen and
Mike improve and maintain this webpage?
Information for Advertisers
and Affiliate Marketers
Last Updated: March 21, 2011
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