Crazy

February decided to meet all my expectations weather-wise last week. The skies were mostly gray. The ground was entirely white. Two winter storms rolled through giving us snow, freezing rain, sleet, and yet more snow. We dropped into the negative digits several times during the week and never got any warmer than the 20's. There was one sunny day, but it was the coldest day of the week, of course. It would have been excessively dismal had it not been tempered by having Daniel and Raven here. Spending time with them brightened our February gloom. We spent time playing games together and sitting and talking. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know Raven better. And being with Daniel is always fun.

Cold morning.

Old sunflowers in the snow.

Frosty morning.

On Tuesday, Daniel and I took Raven out on the Grand Tour of our area to let her see this place where Daniel grew up. We showed her the towns of Ulysses and Genesee. We drove her around the children’s school and the high school. We took her to the Amish dry goods store and the Amish variety store over on Mills Hill. We drove up the Rapley road to show her the hollow. It was a cold and blustery day with snow drifting on the wind, typical of February here. That evening, we invited Kurt and Julie over for dinner. It was Taco Tuesday and the food was great. After dinner we played a game of Skull King, one of our favorite card games.

A game of Skull King after dinner.

On Wednesday Daniel, Raven, Miriam, Hannah, Gina, who works with Hannah, and I went to the Corning Glass Museum. Daniel and Raven are fans of the show Blown Away, a competition for glass blowers, and they wanted to go there. I think this was the third time I’d been there, but for some it was the first time. It is a great museum with displays of glass objects dating from ancient Mesopotamia to now. One of our favorite parts is the live show where you get to watch a glass blower create something.

At the Corning Glass Museum (with schmutz on my camera lens).

In the museum.

An interesting piece of contemporary glass art.

A Tiffany window.

Waiting for the glass show to begin.

Museum selfie.

When we got back from Corning, Daniel and Raven left to drive back down to the Thayn’s house. They would have stayed until Thursday, but the forecast said more snow was coming and they wanted to get ahead of it. The snow turned out to be nothing, so they could have stayed an extra night, but better to be safe than sorry. They flew out of Pittsburgh for home on Friday morning. It was so nice having them here. I hope we will see them again later this summer at our family reunion.

Good-bye to Daniel and Raven.

My musical mental relief was various last week. I spent one day reveling in Bach’s Goldberg Variations and for two days I made my way through all 27 of Mozart’s piano concertos. But one morning I woke up with the song Crazy running in my head and all I wanted to listen to was Pasty Cline all day. Music feeds my soul and my musical diet can be rather eclectic. I would get bored with the same fare all the time. And my music choices are very much influenced by my mood and they also influence my mood. The kind of music I’m listening to can make all the difference between gloom or glory.

Bach, Patsy Cline, and Mozart.

Last week I arrived at one of those quandaries that vex me from time to time. I finished a book and couldn’t decide what to read next. I always need to be involved with a book and I usually have three or four lined up and waiting, but last week I found my queue was empty. I wandered the house scanning the shelves in every room (four of the rooms in this house contain bookshelves) looking over titles. I considered Zane Grey. I have a set of 67 of his novels, most of them Westerns and they usually make for good winter reading, especially the ones set in the desert. But none of them appealed to me. I looked at Dickens. I have a complete set of Dickens and I’ve read all of it (it took me two solid years devoted to just his novels to accomplish it) and I adore his books. It’s been a few years since I last read Dickens, except for his Christmas books. But I have to be in a certain frame of mind to tackle his novels, and it was not now. I thought maybe some nonfiction would be good. I love to read history. I picked through a couple of books, one on Roman history, several on the World Wars, and scanned their table of contents. None of them attracted me. I moved on through Science Fiction, Religion, Biography, Young Adult Literature, Poetry, Gardening, and Spy Thrillers. With several thousand books in the house, there had to be one that appealed to me. I decided to skip anything I’d already read, and that eliminated a lot of books. Then I focused on unread Classics. I sampled Sir Walter Scott – too wordy, and Henry James – dry and rather boring, and Marcel Proust – too intricate and intimidating. They’ll have to wait for another time. I finally settled on The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (1628-1688). I’ve owned a nice copy of it for thirty years and had never opened it.

John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress in 1678 while he was in prison for holding unauthorized religious services. It is an allegory relating the journey of the protagonist, a man named Christian, from his home in the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along his way he meets up with men and women with great allegorical names like Hypocrisy, Wanton, Piety, and Faithful who try to distract or help him. He arrives at places designed to thwart him, tempt him, or delight him like the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and the Delectable Mountains. I haven’t finished it yet, and I’m really enjoying it. It also helps that my copy has illustrations by William Blake (1757-1827). I’ve always loved Blake’s artwork and his poetry. Bunyan and Blake are perfect for each other.

Bunyan and Blake.

Illlustrations from The Pilgrim's Progress by Blake.

More illustrations.

One more.

Later in the week I came down with a head cold. I was pretty miserable for a day or two. I’m still not completely over it, but I’m doing much better. February with its freezing temperatures and low humidity seems to be the time I get these colds. Just one more reason for me to dislike the month.

We had a Pride and Prejudice festival last week. Miriam and Hannah both read the book (again) and as a reward for finishing, they watched both of their favorite versions. On Thursday and Friday they watched the 5 hour and 27 minute 1995 BBC version, and on Saturday they watched the 2 hour and 9 minute 2005 version. They had Hannah’s friend and coworker Gina over for the Saturday viewing. Miriam made all sorts of fancy treats for their party. I’m a fan of Pride and Prejudice too, and I caught parts of the long version, which is my favorite version, but I wasn’t invited to the fancy Saturday viewing. That was fine with me. They watch those movies several times each year. I’ll catch it the next time around.

My favorite version.

The shorter version.

Miriam's treats to go with the movie.

Yesterday was Hoodie-Hoo Day. Hoodie Hoo Day is celebrated every year on February 20th. It’s supposed to help people get over the winter blues by chasing Old Man Winter away by going out at noon, raising your hands over your head and yelling “Hoodie Hoo!!” We never heard of Hoodie-Hoo Day until we moved here. Back in the day when Betty Tomak had the Gold Store, she began the custom here. People would gather at the store where there was good food and live music and at noon everyone went out front and raised their hands and shouted “Hoodie-Hoo!” It was great fun. In 2003 at Hoodie-Hoo Day down at the Gold Store, one of the attendees asked Stacey if we wanted a dog. This lady had a shi-tzu dog she couldn’t care for. Stacey said “yes” and that’s how we got our beloved dog Pancho. But the Gold Store is gone now and Pancho is too. I don’t think anyone around here observes Hoodie-Hoo Day anymore, at least not in such grand style.

Hoodie-Hoo Day back in the day.

Pancho.

We have a lot of snow on the ground. Down at the barn, once more, it all slid off the roof and blocked the lower doors. With my back still not quite normal, I couldn’t shovel it free. For several days I had to squeeze through a narrow two foot opening to collect the eggs. Yesterday Hannah went down and cleared it for me. She went on to shovel out our mailbox, the Shillig’s mailbox, and our driveway. It was hard work and it was cold outside and I appreciate her doing that.

After  Hannah's hard work, the door is free again.

Shoveling out the Shillig's mailbox.

It’s cold today, but sunny. On our way to church we noticed that the Genesee River is almost completely frozen over. When all this snow melts, I hope it melts slowly and soaks into the ground rather than running off. This coming week the forecast says we will have milder temperatures, in the thirties. Wednesday is supposed to hit 42°. That might be the day I start pruning the orchard. A day in the 40's will seem almost tropical. We’ll see.

The frozen Genesee River.

Dan