Detail Diary, Vol #38
February: Cedar waxwings | basket-weaving | a final stab at winter
February 2026
Dear friend,
My second month in Utah has seen some brief respites from winter drought, including a single glorious day of snowstorm and some sky-freshening rain. Mostly, though, the unseasonable warmth has lulled us through the last of winter and into undeniable spring as the first flowers find themselves welcome. Meanwhile, as brown as the mountainsides are, I’m okay waiting for leafing; I’m still savoring bare trees’ basket-weaving of the sky and their collaborations with the sunsets and the moon.
On sunny Sundays I go on neighborhood architecture walks, collecting spunky little hundred-year-old houses and other local artifacts, textures, and trees. On weekdays I walk to work and occasionally along the landscaped path edging the steep south border of campus, which is technically an arboretum but I think I’ll call it Botany Hill. It’s the closest thing I have here to the arboretum I used to frequent daily in Grenoble, albeit more manicured and confined to a paved path strung along the hillside. But I’ve begun my observations. On Friday I spotted the first cherry blossom, and then I sat in the midst of a flock of cedar waxwings and robins whirring between the nearly dry streambed and the surrounding perches to snatch little glugs of water from the puddles. Cedar waxwings—svelte, communal, frenetic—are contenders for my favorite bird. I’ll be sad when they head north again.
As I’ve begun to settle in here, my Utah place-story-brain has started its gears going. Here are some ideas I’d love to follow in person and in writing:
Tracing the spine of my Wasatch mountain horizon, from Mt. Timpanogos to Mt. Nebo (the highest peak in the Wasatch)
Botanizing and birdwatching in the local canyons and wetlands
Learning my watershed: all the rivers leading in and out of Utah Lake, the shallow, freshwater little sister of the Great Salt Lake (plus the highs and lows of restoration efforts)
Following the Provo River from Wall Lake in the Uinta mountains to Utah Lake
Collecting the vestiges of Provo’s history preserved in its architecture
Studying the settlement trajectory of Utah Valley as agriculture gives way to suburban developments crammed between lake and mountains, and my family’s part in this story
Learning the stories of Utah Valley’s Native American tribes
Stoking appreciation for the vast wilds of the Great Basin
Exploring what happens when you combine desert and elevation (the Colorado Plateau)
Comparing and contrasting the Rockies and the Alps—geology, flora, climate, glaciation history, human land use, etc.
So, stay tuned! For now, read on for the February Details…
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I loved reading your list full of plans of local discovery.
I LOVE all of your pictures and descriptions, Anne! How fun to see Tom's pigeons in the group. Thanks for sharing!