February
This calendar page is my favorite of the twelve months in the Book of Hours. When you look at a painting, does it sometimes feel so familiar, like you were there in another lifetime? A first glance this is just a quiet farm on a frozen day. The brilliance of the little picture is in the humanity and detail. I always wonder what the lady in the blue dress was thinking on that winter morning?
We can't call it Spring yet, but February sure feels like the start of a new season here. Bulbs are starting to poke through the ground, the roses have new growth (and need pruning) and the forsythia is ready to bloom. It's always green in Seattle so we take it for granted, but in other parts of the country even a single sprouting snow drop restores us in February.
Tomorrow is "Candlemas Day." The ancient festival was called the "Feast of Lights" and marked the halfway point between the shortest and longest day of the year. Later, it became the day when a blessing was said over all the candles that would be used in the church the following year. For Christians, candles were (and still are) a reminder that we were all in the dark before Jesus came to earth.
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