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November 3, 1999

The Sky is Falling

6:00 a.m. - I awoke this morning to a white world. First snow. I always love the first snow. There is a particular, special feeling that comes over me. Sort of a "nesting" mentality. I feel warm and secure inside myself. I feel self contained. I feel pure and unsullied. I feel blessed by the light. I feel separate from other people in a very wonderful way. I feel small and invisible and significant because of it. A force greater than mankind's agenda muffles sounds and sight. The first few days are great...

Today I am celebrating the first snow by going mobile. I sit before the window, laptop in my lap. I write, gazing at the still falling snow, at the waving wands of white that are the covered branches in the wind. I am comfortable, in a chair that respects my injured back. This is getting much closer to writing with pen and ink. Well in one sense perhaps, there are differences that remain. My misspellings always remain in a pristine state when recorded on paper. Coffee rings on a written page add a slightly romantic, personal touch to the work, not so on the keyboard. Letters formed by pecking flow differently than those formed by the flow of ink. In my case, the brain configures the interaction between thought and expression quite differently as a result.

It is time for coffee. The laptop is being set aside; writing will have to continue later in the day.

6:30 p.m. - It has stopped snowing. There is quite an accumulation on the ground; it is wet and heavy. Luckily most of the leaves have fallen so damage to the trees is minimal. The weather has turned much colder over the last two days, from 20 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius. On Tuesday evening, yesterday, we experienced thunder and lightning. And now here is winter blasting into our lives!

I've been busy with converting farm fresh apples, pumpkins and carrots into frozen ingredients for this winter's meals. It is amazing how cheaply these ingredients can be obtained if grown locally. We are very lucky to live in a city surrounded by farmland, and to have a vehicle at our disposal to visit the farms. It requires a tremendous amount of time to process fruits and vegetables, I am glad that I have that time. Apple crisp, pumpkin squares and glazed carrots are what I think about as I stand peeling, simmering and chopping.

Many children in urban North America think that if it isn't wrapped in plastic or made from a box it isn't food. I do love a lot of the pre-processed foods, but home cooked foods taste very similar if sufficient fat, salt and/or sugar is added. I worry too about the chemicals that are added to pre-processed foods. What effect are they having on our bodies, the bodies of our children? I don't think anyone really knows, but I have a bad feeling about it. Sometimes I think that I should eat the foods laced with chemicals in order to be immunized against the environment we are creating for ourselves. Fight fire with fire so to speak. That idea gives me a bad feeling too.