Always Another Windmill

We now interrupt the festivities for a brief holiday message
from the Department of Homeland Security.

There’s no earthly way of knowing

How long it will go on snowing!

There’s no knowing how deep it’s growing

or which way the snow is blowing!

Not a speck of light is showing,

so the snowbanks must be growing,

though snowblowers keep on blowing,

and it’s certainly not showing

any signs that it is slowing . . .

(with apologies to Roald Dahl)

Well, I can now banish any worries of an insufficient experience of winter. Last weekend we were without power for several days on account of a nasty ice storm. We got power back on Tuesday, and then it snowed on Wednesday, and on Friday, and Saturday, and it’s been snowing all day today so far, and forecast to continue doing so into the night. Of course, they also predicted that it would stop snowing yesterday before the current storm came in. Instead, it just didn’t come down as fast today. We’ve had at least a foot and a half so far–at least 20 inches predicted, I suspect it will be more than that when we’re done.

Zag and I are excited about all the snow, I think WB and the dog are a little more ambivalent. We let the dog out to pee, and she stands on the patio, looking perplexed at the sea of white that has replaced her yard.

We all went out on our snowshoes for a brief excursion in the woods yesterday. Then Zag became ambivalent. He was very enthusiastic about tromping around n the yard in his snowshoes, but wasn’t very interested in going out in to the woods at all. Ah well, he wasn’t really interested in walking in the woods when we first got here either, but he eventually came to like it. Maybe he’ll get more interested in skiing?

I love it. I love the quiet of the world covered in snow, the soft white blanket everywhere, the warm feeling of being bundled up and working hard enough shoveling or tromping around to take off layers so as not to be too warm. I can hardly wait to get out on skis again and hear the quiet hiss of gliding over new snow, but first, I think it might need to stop for a little while.

Zag wakes up in the morning and comes in and snuggles with us for a while. Then he gets up and goes back to his room to play with Lego. He has to be pried away–sometimes physically–to get his diaper off. I dress him alongside the lego table most mornings. He must be coaxed away to eat breakfast. Then he goes back up.

This morning, I got him to play a different game with me for almost 15 minutes. He wants to eat his his snacks at the lego table. He wakes up from nap, takes off his diaper, gets pants on, and goes–you guessed it–straight to the Lego table, where he stays until WB comes home. Unless he just stays up there and calls for us to come up and play with him.

Everyone he meets gets assessed for their level of interest in Lego. And invited to come play legos with him.

I guess I know longer have to worry about how to keep him occupied all winter.

This is probably the first time in my life I have ever said this: Sometimes, I think, maybe, I might be starting to get just a little bored of playing with Lego.

I’m sitting here drinking a bottle of Thums Up, a cola beverage from India, developed as an indigenous replacement after the country kicked out the Coca-Cola company back in the 70’s (ironically, it was later purchased by Coca Cola in the 90’s).

Somehow I never noticed just how much it tastes like Indian spices. I can’t quite place it–maybe hints of some curry? coriander? Sometimes I think it tastes a little like sweet paan in a bottle.

Maybe at this point it’s just association from having had it with a lot of dosas. Whatever it is, it beats the hell out of any of the transnational colas.

. . . oh I guess it was me.

Anyone still here?