January Thaw


My Mother has always said there is a "January thaw" and a "February thaw" in Montana. For a few days in January and February the snow and ice melt, birds begin to sing, the sun is wonderfully warm, and it's so tempting to put a seed or two in the ground. But I've lived here long enough to know it's just a tease. It will be awhile before we're out of the winter woods. When my Mother was a child, her father woke her and her sister and brothers up in the middle of the night to go out into the snow and feel the Santa Anna winds coming up from California. Before her eyes the snow was rapidly melting and the scent of orange blossoms in the air was breathtaking.

1 comment:

rae said...

Wow ~ I love all the beautiful textures and colors in this picture :-)