On December 26, I left the Soo and headed home. The day was sunny so I drove through doing the 10 hour trip in one sitting. And the weather has continued to be bright and mild. Last weekend it was warm enough to put my rosemary plant out in the sun. The plant had buds, and I wanted to expose these white nubs to the warm winter sun.

I positioned the rosemary in front of my big-blue-marble and shot it in Vibrant mode. (Note: not a good setting in winter light.) I looked down the side flower-bed and noticed that the snowdrops were out. These harbingers of spring have never poked their heads out this early. (My friend Tom, who lives in the rarefied city of fog and mild climate that is San Francisco, tells me about playing golf and seeding new plants in the middle of January.) I like my seasons here in the North East with their distinct experiences, their punishing temperatures, their frozen earth, their dead greens, and their soft springs.

But things seem to be changing, so I have to ask; has the solar orbit gone a whack; has Washington lied about the blue haze of carbon emissions; has Michelle Obama inaugurated a new Camelot? Is there a legal limit to the snow here? Is winter now forbidden . . . all together?