I can almost feel it. I know it’s right underneath my nose.
Not much happens when things are frozen solid, anyway, like at the top of El Salto (pictured below). We’ve already had one heavy snowfall that probably won’t melt from the doorway until March, one of the reasons I could just do without winter, I suppose. Last year really did me in, and I’ve been dreaming of palm trees and warm blue water ever since. Yes, I do not think I would resist a forced relocation to Hawaii or perhaps the Azores. Islands are inherently limiting, but I think I could take a few years’ worth.
The ever-present El Salto under clouds
I have in any case given in to the conditions this year. Christmas is usually a ghastly gauntlet for me, probably because of all the unhappy ones I endured growing up, but this year I don’t feel so threatened, for some reason. Ironically, the snow and ice have come again, just when I need to be able to drive and move around but can’t! I only got the Ford F-150 out of the driveway yesterday: it took several buckets of woodstove ashes (which work great, by the way), and I ended up with the truck at the top of the hill, ready to roll. Or so I thought, at least.
This morning I tried to go to the hardware store. It was about 30 degrees and the sun was shining, but that baby wouldn’t go anywhere, even on level ground. More ashes and 15 minutes later, I did make it down the road and back. My errand was inconclusive, but the rare pleasure of visiting a hardware store in the middle of a Sunday morning is not to be missed.
Still, this is a different Christmas. My wife is practicing furiously for a chamber music concert around the first of the year and has no time to do the usual decorating. I did go out yesterday and cut some greens to hang on the front door and arrange in a bowl inside, but that’s about it. We’re not even buying presents for anyone. I did intend to mail off a few cards, but I’ve pretty much run out of time, and Tuesday will bring another storm. I simply won’t be made to feel rushed or upset — that’s what I mean by giving in to the conditions — and I don’t feel guilty.
Enough is enough!
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