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| Sunrise on Wednesday. |
After a family and fun-filled weekend last week, things quieted down considerably. On Monday the Thayns and the Fosters went home. The Shillig boys, Asa and Enoch, are staying here for a few weeks to work, which helps the house not to seem so forlorn.
The normal routine prevailed all week. The weather was sloppy. We had a thaw on Thursday – a nice 54° – that lasted a whole day before it got cold again. Most of the snow melted away except for the ruin of the snowman and the igloo in the front yard. As soon as the snow retreated off the front flowerbed, a snowdrop emerged. It was just one tiny snowdrop, but it made me so happy to see it. Now the snow has come again and the snowdrop is buried.
The normal routine prevailed all week. The weather was sloppy. We had a thaw on Thursday – a nice 54° – that lasted a whole day before it got cold again. Most of the snow melted away except for the ruin of the snowman and the igloo in the front yard. As soon as the snow retreated off the front flowerbed, a snowdrop emerged. It was just one tiny snowdrop, but it made me so happy to see it. Now the snow has come again and the snowdrop is buried.
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| The snowman and igloo after the thaw. |
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| The first little snowdrop. |
I know I ramble on a lot about winter, but here in Potter County winter usually runs from November to April, so it occupies a large portion of my year – and my thoughts. I try not to brood about it all the time. I try various things to take my mind off the dark and cold. I read books. I listen to music. And I daydream about spring and summer. But that hardly helps when I look out the window in February. I get broody in February (not like a hen gets broody, but then, a broody hen is a bit crazy so maybe that is a good description). My attitude toward winter has changed over the years. When I was younger I didn’t mind the winter at all. I thought big snowstorms were exciting. To see the world transformed so dramatically was a wonder to me. That was when I didn’t have to deal with the real perils of a storm. My attitude has matured, or maybe soured is a better word, maybe even curdled. I do understand the need for winter. My gardens and my fruit trees require it. I can still appreciate the beauty of the occasional winter scene. But I get weary of it after a while. I used to be better at coping with it. It’s funny that as I get older, time seems to go faster and faster, except where winter is concerned. Spring, summer, and fall pass in a flash. Winter seems to drag on endlessly.
Right now one of my most effective coping measures is listening to Mozart’s Piano Concertos. He wrote twenty-seven of them and they are all lovely. The last twelve are about as perfect as music gets. I’ve been listening to them over and over again. Every day. I can’t get enough of them. I think they release dopamine into my brain or something. They make me happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJkkCvdyZo
A while back I wrote that I am re-reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books this winter. I read them eight or nine years ago and loved them. They are the perfect sort of book to keep my brain busy during the idle days of winter. They are funny, witty, satirical, and sometimes very wise. There are 41 of them. Right now I’m on number 27 and I’m loving every one of them. Each book has a theme and there are different groups of characters that run through them. The novels are parodies of things like politics, business, opera, science, movies, pop culture, Shakespeare, and so many other things. Sometimes when I’m reading, I come across a particular bit of wit or wisdom that I like so much, I write it down so I can remember it later. Here’s a few examples:
“Summer is a moving creature that likes to go south for the winter.” from Feet of Clay
“Getting an education is a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you get the urge to pass it on.” from The Hogfather
“Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.” from Jingo
“The historians climbed library ladders, fumbled books onto their lecterns, and generally rebuilt the image of the past to suit the eyesight of today.” from Thief of Time
“You had to hand it to human beings. They had one of the strangest powers in the universe. No other species anywhere in the world had invented boredom . . . that strange ability to look at the universe and think ‘oh, the same as yesterday, how dull.’ And along with this had come the contrary power, to make things normal. The world changed mightily, and within a few days humans considered it was normal.” from Thief of Time
This is Presidents’ Day weekend. It was supposed to have been a four and a half day weekend for me, but we missed a day two weeks ago because of snow, so they made us make up for it on Friday. But school is out tomorrow, which is nice. For several years when we lived in California we went to Death Valley on Presidents’ Day weekend. Death Valley is wonderful in February. It’s usually about 80° and the desert wild flowers are in bloom. Death Valley is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – beautiful in its own very unique way. The first year we went there, we just took a day trip with some friends. The next year we decided to go camping. We set up a tent in a campground and the wind was so ferocious it tore it down. We abandoned camp and drove up to my brother Steve’s house in Independence, just to the northwest of Death Valley. Every year after that, we didn’t even consider camping, but went straight to Steve’s. Those were fun times. Looking out the window right now, I’d like to be in Death Valley.
Right now one of my most effective coping measures is listening to Mozart’s Piano Concertos. He wrote twenty-seven of them and they are all lovely. The last twelve are about as perfect as music gets. I’ve been listening to them over and over again. Every day. I can’t get enough of them. I think they release dopamine into my brain or something. They make me happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJkkCvdyZo
A while back I wrote that I am re-reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books this winter. I read them eight or nine years ago and loved them. They are the perfect sort of book to keep my brain busy during the idle days of winter. They are funny, witty, satirical, and sometimes very wise. There are 41 of them. Right now I’m on number 27 and I’m loving every one of them. Each book has a theme and there are different groups of characters that run through them. The novels are parodies of things like politics, business, opera, science, movies, pop culture, Shakespeare, and so many other things. Sometimes when I’m reading, I come across a particular bit of wit or wisdom that I like so much, I write it down so I can remember it later. Here’s a few examples:
“Summer is a moving creature that likes to go south for the winter.” from Feet of Clay
“Getting an education is a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you get the urge to pass it on.” from The Hogfather
“Give a man a fire and he’s warm for a day, but set fire to him and he’s warm for the rest of his life.” from Jingo
“The historians climbed library ladders, fumbled books onto their lecterns, and generally rebuilt the image of the past to suit the eyesight of today.” from Thief of Time
“You had to hand it to human beings. They had one of the strangest powers in the universe. No other species anywhere in the world had invented boredom . . . that strange ability to look at the universe and think ‘oh, the same as yesterday, how dull.’ And along with this had come the contrary power, to make things normal. The world changed mightily, and within a few days humans considered it was normal.” from Thief of Time
This is Presidents’ Day weekend. It was supposed to have been a four and a half day weekend for me, but we missed a day two weeks ago because of snow, so they made us make up for it on Friday. But school is out tomorrow, which is nice. For several years when we lived in California we went to Death Valley on Presidents’ Day weekend. Death Valley is wonderful in February. It’s usually about 80° and the desert wild flowers are in bloom. Death Valley is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – beautiful in its own very unique way. The first year we went there, we just took a day trip with some friends. The next year we decided to go camping. We set up a tent in a campground and the wind was so ferocious it tore it down. We abandoned camp and drove up to my brother Steve’s house in Independence, just to the northwest of Death Valley. Every year after that, we didn’t even consider camping, but went straight to Steve’s. Those were fun times. Looking out the window right now, I’d like to be in Death Valley.
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| Death Valley 1994. |
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| Death Valley 1997 |
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| Death Valley 1997 |
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| Death Valley 1998 |
The week ahead looks variable. Cold then warm then cold again. They’ve predicted another spell of warmer weather midweek – into the 60's – that will be nice if it happens. I need to prune the orchard. I could do it tomorrow since I don’t have school, but it’s supposed to be chilly and rainy. I think I’ll wait until Tuesday when it’s supposed to be 66°. That’s good pruning weather. After that there is more rain coming. And more snow no doubt. I’ll cope with whatever comes. I have Mozart and Pratchett to help me through it. And maybe that snowdrop will reappear.
