February Mosaic

Almost half of this month's pictures feature snow and ice. We begin with a photo I call, "Art Imitates Life," and end with the drift of snow beside my car in the school parking lot. (A plow-made drift that was beautifully sculpted by the most recent few inches of snow that were delivered with a brisk biting west wind.)

My desk full of piles stressed me out on the day of our Valentine parties.

(Remember, that was the week I was out on Monday for mentor training, we had snow days Tuesday and Wednesday, we came back for Valentine madness on Thursday and then had PD all day on Friday?)

My desk full of piles stressed me out again the following Friday.

(That was the Friday that followed the week described above and then Presidents' Day off and another snow day on Tuesday (thank goodness because I was stranded in NYC) and the author visit on Friday and the Dublin Literacy Conference on Saturday.)

Remarkably, there are also flowers this month. You can see them in the desk piles (how about that stunning orchid that a student who moved to another school gave me?!? I hope I can keep it alive...I've never had an orchid before...) and as a centerpiece for the author visit breakfast. My favorite, though, is the crocus that a squirrel must have transplanted into the geranium that lives on my front porch in the summer and my classroom windowsill in the winter. In spite of the piles of snow outside the window, we had a sign of spring-to-come.

Last year's February Mosaic was quite different from this year's. Sigh. And with March just a day away, it seems completely unlikely that we will EVER see buds and blooms and sprouts again. But since the crocus in my classroom can believe in spring, I guess I can, too!