Shedding more light on the season

This is about the time of year that you start to notice on early-morning walks the sunlight a little brighter and earlier than only a couple of weeks ago. The toughest weeks of winter  -- physically -- are the next four or five weeks but the slowly extending light  -- and the sense of accelerating time -- gives one more hope than one had in November, at least for a few minutes after sunrise.

-- Robert Whitcomb