Spring in January

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Spring in January

It has been a very cold winter so far but last week, for a blissful day and half, the snow disappeared, the river ice creaked and thumped as it broke up, and the ditches flowed as though it were spring.

We took a day off school to celebrate. It was an amazing day and, because I love glimpses into other family’s celebrations, I’m sharing our January ‘spring’ with you.

Of course we spent a lot of the time outside, enjoying the fresh air.  Mr. 22, who had the day off, too, cleaned out the chicken coop, Miss 15 cleaned out her bunny’s palace and the chicken hospital cage.  I swished and scrubbed animal supplies in puddles on the lawn, a delightfully childish activity, and Miss 17 tucked compost around the raspberry canes.

The fresh air also inspired us inside, and we aired out the house, giving it a quick spring cleaning, and prepared for the possible power outages that could come with the predicted flash freeze.  Miss 15 baked peanut butter cookie muffins, peanut butter cookies, and her first cheesecake.  We had apple-cinnamon oatmeal for lunch, and I finished a mind map about the cell for our biology studies.

In the middle of all that useful exuberance, some unnamed people engaged in a BB gun fight with the BB’s ricocheting off the dining room forest of table and chair legs.  (One of the guns, among the silliest things in our house, is a pink BB pistol.)

Miss 17 and I walked the short distance to our river, watched the mist rise as the temperature dropped, and took pictures.  Meanwhile, Miss 15 painted her nails and studied biology with her bedroom window wide open.

Later on the Canada Post lady came with two lovely books and left, smiling, after Miss 15 complimented her on her manicure.

Then, early in the afternoon, rain pelted against the window.  As the temperature plummeted, the splashes became pings, and within 15 minutes the window was covered with ice.

It had been so warm that the girls put pop into the freezer to cool.  Then they forgot about it and, when they finally opened it, it sprayed all over the kitchen and into every nook and cranny, even into the closed microwave!   I heard vague scrubbing noises during my nap, but just assumed they had something to do with the new layer of ice outside….

By evening life was back to its wintery normal, with the fire roaring, the windows tightly sealed, the animals cozy in their straw, and the world covered with a fresh coat of snow.  But we have our memories of a delightful and slightly crazy day, the day when spring came in January.

Back to winter the next day

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