The Magpie Diary: Jan. 25, 2026.

I learned this week about the Japanese sekki, or solar terms — 24 of them in the calendar year. Micro-seasons, defined by anticipated shifts in the weather, and named accordingly. In spring: Risshun (start of spring); Usui (rain waters); Keichitsu (Going-out of the worms / insects awaken); Shunbun (Vernal equinox); Seimei (Clear and bright ); Koku (Rain for harvests / “grain rain”). Useful for planting and planning of all kinds, and an easier breadcrumb trail to follow between the months. The stretch of spring and the swoon of summer feel like too-large canvases by contrast. Or maybe it’s helpful to measure time in both ways. Sometimes when you are too close to the page, you miss its broader story. By contrast, if you are leaning too far back, you overlook the power of a well-placed comma.

Right now, we are in daikan (big cold). I am thinking of Magpie reader Venia, her stirring ode to winter in the comments here, her model of taking winter in her arms, holding it while she can. This, my recurring lesson, and woven into everything I touch: go easy, sink into this temporary moment. You know, I think sometimes about myself flailing against the inevitable. Worrying about my aging skin, steeling against the 14 degree temperature, anticipating grief and loss of different kinds. But what if we put a pin that, and we just sat with this day. All the energy frittered away in plotting and resisting the unknown recycled into a warm haze of “yes, this, right now.”

Unrelated, or perhaps it is related, but I’ve realized I have a happy corner on my daily route to drop off and pick up my daughter: it’s a downhill curve in the road, and the old trees hugging it are spectacular, especially in fall, but even in winter. They are enormous, pinning up the sky; avuncular in their sturdy perches. I drive that stretch and feel a surge of wellbeing so tiny and trivial that I will miss it if I’m preoccupied with the clock, or the music, or the ballast of my to-dos. It’s become my daily reminder, to be present there, at that bend. Like a little elbow: the faire attention flex.

Shopping Break.

+Magpie favorite dining chairs in a new paprika red! Fun pop of color.

+Shape tape is still 40% off!

+Vintage-inspired heart fair isle (under $100).

+Negative partnered with Ubeauty to release a Valentine’s Day bundle of this whipped set and Ubeauty’s perfume! Chic, fun, sexy.

+For my son: NBs with the coolest laces, and a skiing sweatshirt for Olympics viewing.

+Brooks sneakers in a gorgeous spring lilac/pink.

+Gorgeous hand soap (the wrapping!!!) to stock in your powder bath / to give as a hostess gift.

DINING CHAIRS // GAP HEART FAIR ISLE SWEATER // MOTHER HALF PIPES // GUCCI SLIDES // BODEN RAIN JACKET // CORDLESS LED TABLE LAMP // UBEAUTY X NEGATIVE BUNDLE // KIDS NEW BALANCE SNEAKERS // KIDS SKI HOODIE // BROOKS SNEAKERS // ROSE BOOK // JO MALONE PEONY AND BLUSH HAND SOAP // FOOTED SILVER BOWL // SHAPE TAPE CONCEALER STICK (40% OFF)

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