Today was Groundhog Day which meant that I have two more weeks of winter before summer.

It definitely looks like winter is coming to an end here at home. However, you may have noticed that I said summer and not spring. I am going to South Africa for a couple weeks and will leave two weeks from now, so I will miss most of the rest of winter here at home.

If I make it out into the countryside during my trip it will look more like this after a hot summer.

I will be flying to the airport at Johannesburg and will probably see this statue in the terminal.

I will get to have my Nando’s fix. I am looking forward to a nice half-chicken at my favorite chicken restaurant. Of course, it will have some nice hot peri-peri sauce. Nando’s has expanded some in the US, but still not out here to California.

I am also looking forward to some other good food like a melktert.

When I get back home my rose bushes will probably have a lot of new growth on them, and perhaps even the starting of some buds.

The groundhog would not have seen a shadow this morning, which would mean six more weeks of winter. Astronomically that is how many weeks are left in winter. If the groundhog saw a shadow it would be four weeks left. I have just under four weeks left since I will be away in summer for just over two weeks.

Did you know that another name for groundhog is whistlepig? I hope you had a good Whistle Pig Day.

Steven

WwRI