JOURNAL ARCHIVES BIOGRAPHY LINKS PHOTOGRAPHY POETRY
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We
live in a village supported by a seasonal
economy and population. After Thanksgiving
the
seasonal dwellers retreat to their urban
residences to pass the winter in relative
comfort. The permanent population hunkers
down for the winter weather. It is the
first of November, the highways and
byways are relatively deserted and you
can feel the approaching breath of old
man winter. As the summer people have left, the H1N1 flu virus has arrived. Attila worked yesterday with a fellow whose children are currently combatting the swine flu. We hope to suffer only minor symptoms, but really, it is in the hands of the universe as to how our fate unfolds. Our communications technology has changed since we acquired a high speed internet connection. We no longer need an elaborate setup to cope with a constantly busy telephone line. Now we have just a land line and an answering machine. I answered the telephone yesterday and to my surprise Annie was on the other end of the line. She and Frank have been renovating their new house in a little village in England. They have yet to setup a computer and have been offline for months. I was getting a wee bit concerned as I had not heard from her for weeks. We had a good long chat. It was wonderful to hear her voice and I must admit that there is much more warmth to be felt with voice-to-voice contact than with email. Person-to-person is even better, but we are anything but globe trotters. Yesterday was Halloween and we had not a single costumed child come to the door. No surprise there, as the nearest child in residence would be miles and miles away. Usually the parents of rural children drive them in to neighbouring villages to cruise for candy door to door. The weather last night was dreadful. Winds gusted to around 50 km an hour and rain lashed down intermittently. I remember the last time I went "trick or treating" with Terra. We had wind and snow that Halloween night! The latter part of October was very bleak, rain and cloudy skies most of the time. It looks like November will bring much of the same, although I do see a few rays of sunshine in the long term forecast. The weather is not nearly the imposition it has been for us, since we moved to our rural home, because our new car is larger and not as prone to dancing around the road in inclement weather. Traveling any distance in our older little car was like driving a covered go cart. It required a great deal of concentration and skill to keep our little car on the road and in the lane of traffic where it belonged, even in the best of weather. This morning Attila is busy in the kitchen cooking up his specialty breakfast, blueberry pancakes. He is using the berries we picked and froze during the summer. Even here, where farming is untenable, nature has bounty to offer the gatherer. |
RECIPES :: Cast Worldly Distractions  The ritual of the hearth fire begins. On The Screen Bernard and Doris starring Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes Quote "I love tranquil solitude And such society As is quiet, wise, and good." Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) Weather 4 °C Pressure: 101.7 kPa Tendency: steady Visibility: 16 km Temperature: 4.0°C Dewpoint: 2.8°C Humidity: 92 % Wind: WNW 8 km/h |
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