February

It was a beautiful day, yesterday. Driving up scholls, with the sunlight boring holes through the winter-sparse canopy, I could almost imagine it was spring, for just a moment. I saw fifteen, twenty motorcycles, and children playing in short-sleeved apparel in the cul-de-sacs. With so many people enjoying the weather, it must have reached 10C. I wish that summer skies looked like this, with a depth of blue-violet that electrifies the sky. I visited powells, walked about outside, and then played a bunch of excellent, nerdy games.
I'm feeling, as with all Februarys, the pull of spring, the sweet swing of the earth as it spins ever faster towards equinox. A bunch of stories are churning within me, and I'm almost believing it's the season where I begin writing shorts again. Even though it's probably my least favorite season (the drawn-out portion of winter with work days that begin and end in darkness - I still love this time of year), I think there are a few things that ever draw me to February.
1. amethyst: I've always been drawn to the color purple. I don't have favorites, but I think what interests me most about purple are: the ways the color interacts with thought patterns (students who take tests in purple rooms generally do better); how we torture colors to fit our cultural stereotypes of gender (purple is female - I prefer to think of it as royal, which came because of a rare phoenician dye which was secreted by a rare snail); that the sky is purple as much as blue, but our eyes get confused
2. The lengthening of days becomes more noticeable. Sunset is already after work ends (5:22), and sunrise is nearing when work begins (7:29).
3. My birthday is in this month
4. February is the oddity of the months, being most closely related to an actual moon cycle in term
5.leap years: it jumps a bit with a bunch of strange rules
6. the sneaky 'r' after the b. I like that sneaky 'r' a lot.
7. It has Oregon's birthday in it, and groundhog day, president's day, and even Valentine's day. What an interesting collection. Try and imagine a connection between those, and I'm certain you'll have an interesting story.
8. It can be one of the most finicky of months in terms of weather. Like yesterday, we had sunlight and clear skies, and the most beautiful night of stars and a beaming, cheshire-cat moon. But we are supposed to get a hint of snow tomorrow possibly, and definitely some rain later this week.
9. The mountains are white-tipped (even the shortest, usually. Except this year), the clouds are creative, and the blue skies are the child-eyes of the azure summer and amethyst

Time for adventures, time to live.