A Foretaste:

Are days such as today, that seem to be borrowed from spring, subtracted from summer, like a school that has had too many snow days? Worth it even so, to put the parka back in closet for once, and walk without space suit upon the land. If it weren't for the occasional January thaw, the North Country suicide rate would soon reach Scandinavian proportions. And that warm wind blowing through the dark, indistinguishable from the April evening where you lie awake listening to the storm windows rattle, waiting to hear the moment when the ice cuts loose on the river with a long rolling roar. Pity about tomorrow, and the snow-locked months to come--but today...