Candlemas, that time when Jesus was historically presented at the Temple, along with an offering of two turtle doves, is a church celebration that historically comes forty days after the Nativity.
Here in our country, many however, prefer to celebrate this day by observing whether a certain rodent happens to see his shadow. Whether that would be a sign of real human progress for you, I'll leave to your own conclusions.
For years, I had a parrot, whom you may remember, nicknamed "Groundparrot Gilligan", who offered his own observations as to wintertime's length here in Lakewood.
With Gilligan's passing, a few years back, that prophetical job passed to a small, but highly opinionated Conure named "Badweather BB", who indeed, checked out Lakewood's snowy mounds this morning.
As BB only stands about 3 inches tall, and the snow is currently drifting to twice that height and more, I can safely report that BB did not see his shadow, so based on that observation, springtime should soon blossom around here.
Of course, with BB, you never truly know. One look at that snow, and he just shivered.
Perhaps I misinterpreted his message.
Back to the banjo...