Connor Coyne

In Chicago, February has not been warmer than January this year.  It feels like it must be at least a dozen degrees colder.  What I have noticed is the increase in daylight, with the sun still above the horizon after five, sometimes while I’m getting dinner ready.  And the sland of the sun has started to swing northward again.

An abundance of squirrels. There are millions of them. I’ve never seen so many as this year. About a month ago, I noticed something; when I visit Michigan, squirrels are prime candidates for roadkill. But I never see roadkilled squirrel in Chicago. So have the Chicago groups evolved (or learned) that cars are common, and deadly?

Raspberries on a tree in an overgrown vacant lot in Canaryville. They were gooooood.

Countless lightning bugs. Amazing bugs. The Michigan farms win, because there’s nothing as magical as a thousand fireflies lighting up over a fallow field. But it’s pretty cool to see them flash bright by the dozens in front of brick tenements.

Noisy birds nesting.

My pepper plant has sprouted bell peppers.

But (alas) the days are growing noticeably shorter. Chicago summer is brief and bitter this year. Bitterish, but not bitter.

Buzzing mosquitoes.

I haven’t been consistent in updating here, but minus my time in England I have been in Chicago. The first part of the month was uniformly chilly, typically in the thirties and forties. More recently, it’s vacillated between chill and rainy days and humid and warm days. I love this vacillation, and the trees and plants are waking up daily.

I have noticed almost innumerable strains of birdsong when I walk down the street, often fighting over mating opportunities.

Even more innumerable squirrels.

Sap moving in a few trees.

My flowers, which I think are geraniums, are bright and pink in the windows.

The ice is gone from Lake Michigan (but certainly not from the North Atlantic).

In the last week, I have noticed how cold and snowy it got again! Snow, as a surprise… a sure sign that it’s almost spring.

In the last week, I have noticed a few squirrels in the neighborhood.