Last Sunday we not only got to celebrate a victory by my childhood team (go AFL!) but also Groundhog Day, the unofficial midway point of everyone’s favorite season (or not). As I write this, snow is forecast for Thursday (i.e., yesterday), but at the moment, down here in the flatlands of Northampton, all of the naturally fallen snow from the previous storms has melted. All of it, that is, but the man-made drumlins of snow cast aside by shovels, snowblowers and snowplows. Amidst the most recent snow, up in the hills of Shutesbury, I found this colorful artificial rose someone had affixed to the corner of the M.N. Spear Library, perhaps a reminder of things to come. Even when spring does officially arrive on March 19, being New England, it may not look any more real than this rose. But at least time will be on our side.
— Text and photo by Kevin Gutting