The Very Heart of Winter

Here is what author Jean Hersey has to say about February in her book The Shape of the Year (1967). 

These are weeks of fires, and friends, and indoor life. February is the scent of freshly ironed handkerchiefs in the kitchen on a gray and snowy day. February is beef stew for dinner and the fun of preparing the vegetables, shiny onions, firm potatoes, rich orange carrots, and crisp celery, then smelling the delectable aroma of simmering stew all afternoon.

Each month I am reading Ms. Hersey's corresponding entry in her  month-by-month chronicle of events in her country home in Connecticut. She writes that "February is the very heart of winter."

I can only agree. The sun rose this morning on ground covered with snow from last night's storm and a temperature of eleven degrees. 

That beef stew she wrote about is sounding better and better.