February 3. The ground is covered with heavy snow from the January 27 storm and precipitation that continued to fall in subsequent days. This is a pleasant day with temperatures around freezing and softly falling snow. The limestone cliff bounding the south bank of the river is visible from a distance. I have not been able to use the close-up feature on my camera very often because it uses so much battery power, an extravagance I couldn't afford. The new rechargeable ones allow more exploration of macro images for this journal. In the wide field, young maple trunks are encrusted with lichen. The snow begins to fall more heavily, threatening to obscure the ridge from view. The winter birds are more active in these mild temperatures. A nuthatch calls peent. Two downy woodpeckers argue back an forth shrilly: "Pik! Pik!" One continues drumming while it calls, its voice softening during the undertaking, then the bird leaves abandons its task to pursue its rival. The river is frozen so solid that I venture gingerly into the middle to take a picture downstream. The pond is completely frozen and covered with a thick layer of white. Only the drainage ditch for the effluent pipe reveals a bed of dark water. But this mild weather is melting snow on rooftops. Water overflows the gutters and then freezes again in midair. All the eaves are fringed with fantastic icicle formations (another image).
February 6. The weather is still mild. Early February seems to bring a natural phenomenon of particular notice to myself: a sharp rise in my physical energy. Increasing daylight stimulates the hypothalamus, affecting hormone levels in the blood and neurotransmitters in the nervous system. The flock of house sparrows that inhabits Florence Lane seems restless, too. On these mild days a golden blush is evident in the newest twigs of black willows along the river, but the maples remain demurely grey. Water droplets glisten on every twig. The trunk of a large willow is covered with a different kind of lichen from what is usually seen on the maples. The open area by the drainage ditch has enlarged out into the main stream, curling around the point and along the edge of the pond.
February 8. Sharp cold has glazed the surface of the snow. The level of light at 3 p.m. has increased markedly. The flock of sparrows seems to have swelled in numbers. Two spruce
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