Frank: incensed! Mirth!

This morning’s wind chill was below zero (-3℉), actual temperatures about 12℉. Since none of today’s errands are critical, they’re getting deferred until tomorrow or Wednesday. This kind of unseasonably cold weather makes it hard to stay motivated to respond to “global warming,” especially in a state concerned about abnormal winter warming.

Lest you classify me as a climate change denier, rest assured I’m really only complaining about weather events that stray well below the overall trend. In fact, I’ve noted a remarkable similarity in many of the themes found in Sustainable Happiness and Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity. The idea that surviving our current crises doesn’t need to be a “suck it up,” dreary affair has some surprising appeal, doesn’t it? We simply can’t afford, in any sense of the term, to pursue a business as usual scenario. This holiday season you may want to consider giving a copy of either book, or both, to friends or relatives.

November: full moon

Photo by J. Harrington

Today’s full moon, reflected off the dusting of snow in the driveway this morning, made everything so bright I almost wondered if the garage yard lights had been triggered. According to the Minnesota Weatherguide Calendar,  the Lakota call this full moon the Starting Winter Moon and the Ojibwe know it as the Freezing Moon. Both fit well the current season and weather. We’re less than a month from the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In five weeks or so, days will slowly begin to increase and temperatures will lag by several months. May is less than half a year away.

But first, if we’ve been good boys and girls, we get to celebrate a visit from Santa. Christmas is also our son’s birthday, so the holiday ends about noon and the other birthday boy’s celebration takes over. All of which suggests I stop typing this and get to work on lists of who gets what from whom, when. Unlike Santa, I’m my own crew of elves.

Velvet Shoes

Elinor Wylie     1885 – 1928

Let us walk in the white snow
    In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
    At a tranquil pace,
    Under veils of white lace.

I shall go shod in silk,
    And you in wool,
White as white cow’s milk,
    More beautiful
    Than the breast of a gull.

We shall walk through the still town
    In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
    Upon silver fleece,
    Upon softer than these.

We shall walk in velvet shoes:
    Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
    On white silence below.
    We shall walk in the snow.

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