A post-Christmas lull

The current weather has been like mid-to-late-March or thereabouts for the past few days. We drove home last night, Christmas night in Minnesota, through rain showers. Over the upcoming weekend we're expecting snow and/or rain and/or sleet and/or ice and/or some mix, depending on where and when we are and the related atmospheric conditions.

soon a New Year and a New Decade will dawn

Photo by J. Harrington

We can think of no way, other than hiding under the bed, to prepare for ice / freezing rain storms. With that exception, I think we're reasonably prepared for the forthcoming weather, which may, or may not, be at all reasonable. The weather app on our smartphone switches icons for Saturday and Sunday back and forth between snow and rain about every twenty minutes or so. If this becomes a new Winter weather pattern in the North Country, it's going to become a real challenge planning vacations that involve snowshoes, skis, snowmobiles etc.

On Christmas Eve day we noticed several different large farm vehicles on the local roads. Some fields that had been full of standing corn are now harvested. Our 21st century "new normal" seems to lack any normal at all. Fortunately, someone we know (but won't name) got a nice fleece vest and a pair of insulated LL Bean boots for Christmas. We'll give you a hint at who it may be when we tell you we overheard that recipient muttering about breaking in boots being a young man's job and not something old curmudgeons should have to cope with. So, as long as we don't get encrusted in ice, we know a curmudgeon who thinks Winter's weather can be managed. We'll see.

Since we are in the post-Christmas lull, with nothing to return to a retail outlet, and the stacks of unread books and bags of unbrewed coffee beans are more than abundant, we'll continue to take a wait and see attitude toward the weekend and its weather. In fact, we're going to increase our quanta of wait and see-ness throughout the next year. One of the Christmas presents we gave ourselves is a recognition and acceptance that we can't control everything. In fact, even on the best days, we can barely control ourselves. That's our focus for the New Year -- increasing our level of self control. We think there's a combination of zen, baking sourdough breads, fly fishing, reading and writing poetry and prose, and sitting on our duff watching, smelling, listening and feeling what's going on in the actual world around us that will help a lot. We plan to spend lots of time finding the right combination of that mixture. We'll know we're close as our self-control levels increase and our blood pressure approaches normal. May you find your own ways to make your next year be at least as full of mindfulness and joy.

To the New Year

By W. S. Merwin

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible

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