Monday has returned and I sit here wishing I had allowed myself some time to enjoy the weekend rather than being glued to my bed. The weather was beautiful, and I wish I could have been outside more.

I elected to teach via Zoom last night and it was a hit-and-miss lesson evening as some students failed to let me know until the last minute they had Super Bowl events. Had I known, I could have condensed my schedule without dragging out the evening with huge holes in the schedule.

The weather has returned to normal conditions in the 40s and by next Monday, we might visit 50 degrees, again.

This week, my baby sister, Dena, turns fifty-one on Valentine’s Day. I still remember early in February 1973 when my grandmother, Donna Barmes, woke me with the news that I was finally a big brother.

And today is President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

FEBRUARY

By Anne-Lise Andresen

The ground is chained in frozen iron

Snow crystals glued on pine cones

Overhangs embroideries of polished ice

The wind shakes and shatters them into millions of pieces

Slowly more brightness toward longer days

A new light is born across a white landscape

With its beauty and bliss a squirrel in a pine tree

Thoughts and reflections how beautiful it is

Make it a great day!