Maybe it’s because I’m sitting down to write this letter on what might be (please let it be so) the coldest day of the year. My 100-plus-year-old house is drafty, and my feet are cold (literally, not figuratively) even inside my shearling slippers. The dog has even curled up in my lap—a rarity. She’s usually a bit more aloof, but I suppose anything for a bit of warmth while the temperature outside is minus 11 and who knows how cold when you factor in the wind. (I can’t bear to look at the moment.)
Whatever it is, I am longing for spring, and so I take up my pen to write this introduction to our February issue, because thinking about February gets me at least a little bit closer. February is a short month, for one thing. Just 28 days. Exactly four weeks from one end to the other, and while it might open below freezing, by the end of February, the winter aconite might be blooming.
Now, this doesn’t happen every year—in fact I’m pretty sure it ought not happen every year, given our latitude and prevailing climate. But over the past decade, those bright yellow buttercup-like flowers more often than not have opened before a lion or a lamb heralds March’s first days. And once the aconite has opened, the season for gardening, for bike-riding, for long walks in the woods to admire the ephemerals has begun. Likewise, it’ll be the start of another season of outdoor activities for recreation and sports facilities. Aquatic facility operators with seasonal operations that follow the weather trends will be getting their ducks in a row.
In the meantime, you’ve got this issue in your hands to read, with stories that I hope will educate and inspire, and I’m going to head off to brew a hot beverage, add some wooly socks and a scarf to today’s wardrobe and perhaps nod off over some seed catalogs to dream about the flowers of June, July and August, promising all the while that when the hottest day comes, I’ll remember this moment of wishing for warmth and hopefully feel grateful, or at least have a little laugh at my fickle attitude when it comes to the extreme ends of the thermometer.
Stay warm & safe out there!
Emily Tipping
Editorial Director,
Recreation Management
[email protected]
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