Finding Joy: The Gift of February - February is Cold and Bright, Pink and White, Red & Sweet

 

February 5, 2026 - 

February is cold.  Cold but bright.  It’s pink, white, and red and sweet!  The days are getting longer and the sun is setting later.  February leaves much of the holiday stress behind.  At work, frantic storms of last minute deadlines were potholes to dodge following  December and January and for Doug and I, there were no winter breaks. There was little time to catch our breath before the next storms arrived.  We enjoyed little time to linger.  Exhaustion.  And then an unexpected trip to Florida to check on my parents turned into a blessing of answered prayers with time to sit and wait, to pray, and not do much of anything else.  To catch late night meals, to enjoy Taco Bell and DQ all in the same night with my mom, the queen of healthy and frugal eating.  (She nearly croaked when she saw the price of two small blizzards.  She had never had one!)  Time to talk and reminisce.  Time to read and look at old recipes.  Time to reassess how quickly life can change in a single moment and then be so very grateful that it didn’t.  Time presented itself to refocus.  A gift…

 

Florida was a delightful distraction of lush green and flowers blooming. I enjoyed a day trip with my brother and his wife to the lovely and tiny Astor, Florida on the St. John’s River where I saw real Florida, old Florida, my Florida.

 

I saw vivid green lily pads and beautiful old houseboats docked for so long that there were large house plants sitting outside their spaces.  I also enjoyed the graceful sandhill cranes who visit my parents each day where my dad feeds them dried corn and they get so excited that they dance. 

Florida is an oasis for me.  It is home, forever my home.  But I am ever so slowly starting after 45+ years of living in Missouri, to really appreciate the gifts Missouri has for me.  And so today, I want to enjoy February in Missouri with all of its snow, cold, wind, and moments to linger. 

 While in Florida I missed below 0 windchills and a snowstorm but it was still good to get back home, to get back to my beautiful home and the peeps who live there with me.  A home which is just about to be finally finished after a raging fire destroyed it, now years behind us but never for one second forgotten.  Years have passed and so many life changes have happened since the thing that divided our lives into before and after, but Doug and I get to still wake up together.  We are blessed.  We are so blessed to get to go forward into happily ever after.

I have tried to take the last few weeks to do some of the things that bring me so much peace.  I’m a weird one.  I’m not out there shopping and watching ball games.  I’m not after fancy restaurants or vacations to far away places.  For me, peace is right at home in the very place that was taken from me doing things that I was afraid I may never want to do again.

This February, I have finally started decorating with my heart again.  I’m not a huge decorator.  I tend to lean towards the minimalist side of things but have learned that decorating even a few smalls spaces brings joy, either to the person decorating or to anyone else who comes to your space.   I love our local thrift store and I found this heart in hand plate, a very perfect addition to my February dining table.  I switched out my candle holders from December and January’s gold to black.  Anyone who knows me knows I do love some black!  I left the red berries in the white vase from December and added a black and white porcelain bowl that I also got second hand.  It was the very inspiration for our new home.  That very first piece would be a vision of what home might look like again.  It spoke to me and so I bought it, when I didn’t even have a real home to take it to.  It is black and white.  Shiny porcelain but practical in use.  Simple but luxurious.  Pretty much all descriptions for me, actually and our nearly finished new home. lol

This month I have continued baking bread with freshly milled flour.  I mixed up no knead dough for loaves #6 and #7 and the dough is chilling in the fridge.  One for us, one for a friend.

I made a batch of yogurt and strained it thick and lovely.  I made granola, this time adding coconut and bright red cranberries.  Breakfasts have either been toast with homemade bread & jam or homemade yogurt with this perfect batch of homemade granola. 

 

I made to the YMCA once this week to run a little, to walk a little.  It felt good!  It brightened my spirits for days and I plan to go again soon.

 

At work, I took breakfasts and lunches packed from home, enjoyed bright and sweet juicy oranges and a few treats of spicy red hot candies to feed my sweet tooth.

 

I have cooked two suppers this work week, Shells & Sauce and also a super frugal hearty meal of Crockpot Chicken Noodles.  (Recipe coming soon.)  I made a batch of lightly sweetened cornbread muffins from scratch, a recipe I know by heart. No box of Jiffy mix required!  The two of us have enjoyed leftovers all week from these two hearty meals.  Mmmmm.  Cooking at home feels so good!

I have wintersown seeds for onions for this season’s onion powder, cabbage for maybe some sauerkraut, and have shuffled my seed packets over and over like I’m counting my money as I plan my 2026 garden.  

 

Citrus is ready for harvest in Florida and I actually have my very own huge lemon ready for picking in my barely heated Missouri sunroom.  I named this little lemon tree, “Uno”.  She gives me exactly one huge lemon each year!  So far, I haven’t had the heart to pick her lemon.  Seeing this bright yellow orb ripened in the depths of a Missouri  winter reminds me that a Florida girl can still spread joy in Missouri!

 

I finished reading book #2 for 2026.  I’m now reading a book my mom suggested and which she says is her favorite book ever, “Wrapped in Rain” by Charles Martin.

 

Spring is surely just around the corner but for now, I plan to enjoy February and all it has to offer!  Oh February, pink and white, and red and sweet.  Your snows are melting and the cold is brisk but fading. Your sun casts long shadows in early evenings as we finally can arrive home before complete darkness outside.  I am so thankful that I get to enjoy the blessings of February and all of the things I can fit into embracing it!

If you are reading this today, please leave me a comment.  I would love to hear from you and know how you are finding joy this February.

Enjoy!

Gina