One of the things I like about this house is how the light comes through the windows.  In the morning, it streams in through the living room window providing excellent napping spots for the cats – and also an excellent place for a human or two to curl up with a book.  In the late afternoons, though, the sun sneaks into the back of the house, creating these weird dapples of light and shadow that aren’t particularly warm, but they are comforting.  As the days get a tiny bit longer now the light changes, it becomes a little bit more – dare I say – hopeful, or promising at the very least.  (The seven or eight feet of snow in the yard notwithstanding.)  It’s rare than I’m home before dusk sets in, but when I am I find myself wandering around upstairs, going room to room, watching the light move through the rooms, glinting off doorknobs and lampshades and in-progress projects.  In a mere half hour it’s gone but it will be back tomorrow, for a few seconds longer.