Charles Burchfield, Journals, February 23, 1943

I wonder if it would be possible to single out any one day—or event in a day and say "This is the first day of spring." (For true spring has nothing to do with the March Equinox)—Sometimes in early January the glow of light under the eaves of a house at sunset will be a subtle hint—More positive is (as happened this year) a brilliant sunny day early in February when little hummocks of snow catch the sunlight in a blinding white glare, which is in violent contrast to rich cold blue shadows streaming over the gray snow (gray because it receives the sunlight obliquely)—Another hint is the way smoke from a chimney looks against the pale afterglow in the sky on a midwinter day.

Charles Burchfield, Journals, February 23, 1943