From The Farmer’s Almanac:

Full Snow Moon – February Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

It is a bleak and damp February 1st, today, and I’ve been writing from bed all morning, unwilling to venture forth even for tea, or to shower, the latter of which I really must manage to do before the day is out. The nice thing about working from home is that I can engage in all those unhealthy writer/artist behaviors that involve sleeping when I want, writing at all hours, and stretching the limits of how often I have to wash my hair, although, as most of my friends know, I can deal with tired, hungry, cold, wet, thirsty, or having to desperately pee, but I hate not feeling clean, so my limits are much smaller, in this area, than one might think.

Tomorrow is the full moon for February, called the Snow Moon or the Hunger Moon, both references to the horrid weather that the agrarian communities in the USA generally suffer at this time of year. I find that my creativity tends to wane about now, as well, and while I don’t really have SAD issues, the bleakness tends to grate after a while. I love stormy weather, but it’s appreciated all the more when interspersed with bright sunny days.

Fuzzy’s father celebrates his birthday tomorrow. We will make the ritual phone call asking if he’s seen his shadow, which is hardly original, but is expected. There’s comfort in such familiar behaviors, they become tradition, but they also become mile-markers on the calendar of life.

My mother’s birthday is in three weeks, which means her present needs to go out before I leave for California next week, so it has time to get to her in Mexico. (I add this line as a reminder to myself.)

Today, I will shower, and drink tea, and write, and perhaps make some banana bread, if we didn’t throw away all the old bread pans. If we DID, I suppose banana muffins will be the order of the day. We shall see.

I’m out of books again, and hungry for more. Suggestions, please?