Wednesday, 1 March 2023
Happy March 1st! There are now some cracks in the shroud of winter. Oftentimes, it seems to me, there is a period of a few days, usually in February, where the birds suddenly become more active. It is perhaps the first real hint of spring — real, in contrast to the phantom spring thaw that often happens in late January.
Now we are in a period — which deserves, I think, it’s own seasonal name — marked by rapid freeze-thaw: snow and ice melts during the day, and then freezes into a solid sheet of ice over night. Sand and gravel scattered on the ice to provide traction sinks into the melt, and every morning the ice is fresh and smooth and treacherous. As the day progresses the ice melts from the top, and the morning is marked by an even more slippery surface of water-on-ice; if the day is warm enough, the ice will melt all the way, giving the scattered gravel a chance to provide traction, but the vagaries of sun and shade mean one must always be cautions.
It has been an odd week. For various reasons, each of the three people I regularly meet with for book discussions are unavailable this week. That, and the fact that I’ve largely avoided running due to the icy conditions, have resulted in a rather… flat week. Not that I’ve been bored — I’ve had plenty to do. But the stimulation I get, from others, and from simply being outdoors, has not been there. I’m accomplishing various household tasks — taxes done! some cards sent! some repairs made! some plans developed! and a lot of piano practice! — but it doesn’t seem enough.
Tomorrow I will at least get out the auto shop. Thanks to the piles of snow-become-ice, I have managed to rip the fiberboard cover on the underside of my car off, and that needs to be replaced. My guess is that at some point I pulled far up enough on the inclined banks of snow that have obliterated the curbs on many streets — in an attempt to keep my car from being sideswiped while parked — and happened to drag the cover over some icy protrusion. It didn’t fail right away, but at some point while K and I were driving back from the DMV, I went through a deep puddle (we were getting a bit of rain) and there was a grating and dragging sound. I at first imagined that a chunk of ice had gotten into the wheel well and would shortly melt away, but the dragging continued until we got home, and I found the problem. At least it should be straightforward to fix, and is unlikely to herald other problems.
Aside from the travails of weather, and the temporary lull in my activity, things are going well. I’ve won the High Sierra lottery, and although I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, it’s good enough — at least assuming that the record snowpack will recede in time from my early July trip. I’ve also made reservations at Yosemite Lodge for mid-October, as I was browsing and saw availability. And, new, I think, since I last wrote, I’ve signed up for a monthly writing workshop: three writers (including me), and the teacher/leader — I had been looking for something like this that would provide a series of structured deadlines and critiquing partners. And I’ve signed up to attend the annual ILSG Conference — in Eau Claire this year — and two one-day field trips associated with it. Also, two pleasant chats that had been on hiatus are now re-started: one was today, and the other will commence tomorrow. So, although it’s been a flat week, a lot of plans are now put into place or at least in the offing.
That’s the news here.