On the morning of Jan. 29, there were no less than seven gray squirrels visible at feeders — more than the usual two. They were chasing one female who had come into her estrous cycle. Across the tree canopy, up and down the oak and pine trees they raced after the lead female. Finally, she stopped, tail flicking, and the closest male caught her and they mated.

Can you believe it’s February? I hope I don’t jinx us, but it’s been a pretty good winter so far. The days are getting longer and February is a short month. Before you know it we’ll be complaining about black flies.

I can’t even attempt to pretend that I know what the play “Etty” is about, nor can I grasp the full dimension of the spirituality of either Susan Stein’s performance or Etty Hillesum’s writing. All I can say is that this play, which I saw at the Parker B. Poe Theater at Lincoln Academy, is one-of-a-kind, with a distinct level of dedication that the author as well as the actor, Stein, has paid to this production, and a depth of spiritual discussion this play has brought to various groups, from middle schools to high schools, from prisons to large city theaters.

Driving Route 32 in the cold air this morning, I saw the dark cloud bank of the storm that is expected later today. The sun skimmed the steel gray cloud in front of me to the south. As the sun rose over the line of demarcation between the nearing front, the sky behind it turned pink, then orange, then brilliant gold.

The holiday season is upon us and we find ourselves with closets and boxes filled with discarded toys. What can be done with these unused toys before new ones arrive for the holidays? Toys, in good condition, can be given away. The problem occurs when the toys are unusable. Many of those toys end up in the landfill or an incinerator.

Aleppo

One of the presidential candidates was criticized because he didn’t know what Aleppo was. People were quick to make remarks like, “He’s so ignorant he didn’t even know what Aleppo was.”