drafty mountain hut

Tree sparrows still. See a song sparrow getting its breakfast in the water on the meadow like a wader. Red maple yesterday, — an early one by further stone bridge. Balm-of-Gilead probably to-morrow. The black currant is just begun to expand leaf — probably  yesterday elsewhere – a little earlier than the red. Though my hands are cold this morning I have not worn gloves for a few mornings past, — a week or ten days. The grass is now become rapidly green by the sides of the road, promising dandelions and buttercups.

from the journals of Henry David Thoreau