Winter’s Icy Grip

We know where we live this winter for sure: This is New England, no doubt about it, the place where if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change.

Mostly that change this year has alternated between snow and ice with a little cold rain and mud thrown in the middle for good measure. Yaktrax — the great mini-crampon invention to put on your shoes or boots when the yard and driveway could pass for an ice-skating rink — are king. Familiar faces of friends and neighbors have disappeared inside enormous down jackets wrapped with thick scarves of fleece and wool like so many winter mummies. We know we have fingers and toes; we just can’t see or feel them right now.

But the days are getting stronger; dog owners who rush home from work to give the pooch a walk before darkness falls know this well and can count the extra minutes of daylight now. Five o’clock and the western horizon is still light and brushed with deep pink from the setting January sun.

And we feel the icy grip of winter ease. Just a bit.