I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I’m ready for February.
I have had enough of January and the chilly damp fog that seemed to hang around forever, especially after an equally foggy December. I’m glad February is here, and I’m looking forward to more of it.
If I were still living in the Midwest, I would never say I’m ready for February. Growing up in Chicago, I remember every February being as brutal as January. Whatever fun winter brought, it was gone by then. Earlier in the winter, November was enjoyable, especially as a kid, December even more so with dreams of a white Christmas.
January was anticlimactic, a kind of post-Christmas-partum depression. February seemed ruthless, with no let up from the winter. The grass was still brown, the branches bare and the wind icy cold. In Chicago, I would never say “Bring on February.”
But on the Westside of the Central Valley, I look forward to February, because it brings hope. Emerging from the ground are crocuses, daffodils, jonquils and tulips. Early blooming trees dazzle the eye and cheer the spirit. The grass is green, the sky is usually blue, and the temperature rises to the 70s.
And then come the almond trees displaying buds that soon burst into blossoms. When a whole orchard is in bloom (usually by the end of February) and a bright sun illuminates a field of trees, what a delight!
It’s no wonder poets of every generation have welcomed the initial burst of flowers and blossoms. William Wordsworth, for example, was glad to see daffodils when he wrote, “ I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o’er vales and hills, / When all at once I saw a crowd, /A host, of golden daffodils; / Beside the lake, beneath the trees, / Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
Emily Dickenson wrote, “Light exists in Spring / Not present on the Year / At any other period — / When March is scarcely here. / A Color stands abroad / On Solitary Fields / That Science cannot overtake / But Human Nature feels.”
Poor Emily had to wait until March to welcome spring. Here in the Central Valley, we can welcome the essence of spring in February.
And Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in the fourteenth century in England, had to wait until April to sing the praises of spring in his “Prologue to the Canterbury Tales”: “When in April the sweet showers fall / And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all / The veins are bathed in liquor of such power /As brings about the engendering of the flower” (Modern translation by Nevill Coghill).
To be clear, I do not value February because the Super Bowl will be played during this month, on Feb. 8. By now, I’m pretty much tired of football, especially since my Chicago Bears are not playing in the big game, as they haven’t for the past 41 years.
However, there are indeed other reasons besides warmer weather and blossoms for appreciating February. For one, it’s the shortest month. For anyone who receives a paycheck or retirement check once a month, like me, I am glad that only 27 days after the month begins, I get paid again.
For another reason, it’s the month of Valentines, a good time to appreciate love. I’m a sucker for those little hearts with two- or three-word messages like, “Cool chick” or “Be nice.” It’s also a time to give your beloved a card with some romantic words, a time when flowers or candy are enough to let her know she’s remembered.
February is also the month when folks in and around Los Banos start preparing for the Merced County Spring Fair, also known as the May Day Fair. Members of 4-H and FFA clubs have selected the animals they will show, including heifers, pigs, lambs and rabbits. And the Los Banos Fairgrounds staff is making sure the grounds are in shape to accommodate all the animals and humans that will come to the fair. There is a palpable buzz of anticipation.
February also brings the start of spring training, with hope for every baseball fan. In February every team has a chance (theoretically) to be world champions. Every rookie has the promise to bring his team glory. Every veteran who slumped the year before can (theoretically) make a comeback and return to former glory.
When I lived in the Midwest, I had another reason to appreciate spring training—as an escape. I would listen to games broadcast from Arizona and Florida, with the announcer talking about temperatures in the 70s, with the green grass such a contrast to the brown all around me. I was transported in fantasy. I could escape the gloom and cold of the Midwest winter.
As a kid, I always dreamed about going to a spring training game, another fantasy that was not realized until I was in my 70s and traveled with my wife Sandy to Arizona in 2017 to see, that spring, the World Champion Chicago Cubs play in their home spring training park in Mesa, AZ. (Alas, only I saw that game because Sandy was back in our hotel room recovering from a nasty fall that knocked out her two front teeth.)
Sandy was, however, able to attend a game the next day, when her beloved Giants played, sipping her cocktail with a straw and cheering on Hunter Pence. And we did return the following year when she was able to go to a Cubs game.
What made the experience good was not who won or lost the game, but the camaraderie of all the fans, who were not rivals then but pure fans of baseball. It didn’t matter who won or lost since the games didn’t count in the season’s standings.
In the greater Phoenix area, including Scottsdale and Mesa, there was a buzz of excitement, anticipation and hope. Sandy and I were lucky to take in some iconic places, including Don and Charlie’s sports bar, now closed, and Taliesin West, the nearby Frank Lloyd Wright winter home, still going strong as a visitor’s center.
Yes, February is a great month for enjoying the present and reliving the past. I hope, dear reader, that you, for whatever reasons, enjoy it as much as I do.
John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com
