The snow has been falling since early morning, it accumulates, slowly, successfully racing the melt. The roads are messy, gungey, not quite slippery, so Attila says.
Several cords of split wood are on the back of a delivery truck in our driveway. The wood is wet, but only on the surface. On top of the pile of wood, in the back of the truck, are three sturdy but worn skids. The skids are thrown out of the truck, to one side. The truck bed is tilted up and the wood falls out, clumsily, chunks at a time. The wood rumbles over the metal truck bed on its way out, loudly, then quietly falls to earth.
When the truck is empty it is loaded with the old green boat. The boat was a found item, no longer used because of the gaping hole in its fibreglass bottom, it shouted possibilities to Attila, who brought it home. But the boat didn’t have a chance. There never came a time when Attila was free to rescue it, never a time when Attila was free to think about floating in a boat, on a lake; the lake so near that he might have carried the boat to the shore on his back. So the boat sat there waiting, for ten long years. Then its time was up. Now it will join all the other unfixable possibilities that have ended their days at the dump.
Attila, who drove the truck with the wood in the back to the country house, will drive the same truck to the dump with the green boat in the back. He will return the truck to its owner. He will drive home in his little car, so that he can lay the skids down, and stack the wood on them.
It is a big job.
We will be warm this winter.
The snow will fall for a week or more they say. They are the weather people, the climatologists, the guessers. The winter begins here weeks before winter officially begins with the winter solstice. This year, the early winter is late in coming.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
0°C
Date: 1:00 PM EST Saturday 8 November 2014
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 100.6 kPa
Visibility: 5 km
Temperature: 0.3°C
Dewpoint: 0.2°C
Humidity: 99%
Wind: SSE 15 km/h
Quote
“The best index to a person’s character is
(a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and
(b) how he treats people who can’t fight back.”
Abigail van Buren
1918
Wow, winter is there. It’s still fall here, thankfully. I hope we have at least another month of it, but the weatherpeople have been saying words like “blizzard” lately in reference to the north country… I don’t want any of it here!
BTW, Maggie, have you EVER heard from John Bailey in the last year or so? I wonder what has happened to him/Graham? He just dropped right off the face of the blogisphere!
It’s here Bex! This is our messy season, with daytime temperatures hovering above and below zero, snow, and sometimes ice. Sloppy, slippery, grey… November!
I have not heard from John at all Bex. He got married, and described health challenges, then stopped blogging to post on Twitter, then came back to his blog for an entry, and then just stopped. So sad that none of us knew him in real life, so that we would be able to touch base from time to time. One becomes attached, even though the communications limit how well we know each other online. I would dearly love to know how he is doing. I wonder if Graham’s blog is still running, wish I’d found it when John was still interactive on the web.
Our weather is still mild, but I feel we are on the cusp of change. Attila continues to amaze me. I know you’ve probably written about it… but what does he do for relaxation? Any non-physical recreation? I imagine him as being very healthy, in good physical shape.
Recreation, Attila, hmmmmmmmmm, gotta think Reenie, ’cause that is a hard question. He will watch 30 to 45 minutes of television a day, sometimes. He likes to cook. He likes to read the news, yes, there, that would be recreational wouldn’t it? Attila is very fit, but parts of him are wearing out, as his job is very physical and strenuous, and, well, he just never stops moving, not even in his sleep. He should last a few more years though, we hope.
I hope your good weather holds out for a while longer down there! I hope the weather mellows all over good old mother earth.
Our winter begins around the beginning of November and begins to wane after the first of April. That is six months of it, and I am tired of it by mid-January, with months left to go at that point! I am going to spend considerable time at the little house in the city this winter, and try to establish some social/cultural roots there. Terra is there, so we are firmly rooted family wise. Besides, I have curtains to make! How did I morph into sewing projects, sheesh!
Maggie,
I am glad you will be warm this winter. I was wondering if the old green boat could be used as a huge planter? I am going to do 99% of our gardening here at the apt. in containers next year.
Nora, the old green boat was too big to use as a planter, unfortunately. It was an eyesore, and didn’t help our chances of making a sale for the house. With it gone, next spring, we shall be ready to make another attempt, with a neater yard.
Awwww! It’s always so sad when you have to let go of a dream, even one that’s sat for many years waiting for you.
Hopefully the snow won’t accumulate too much over there. I know that here they’re trying to say that the temps early in the week will be well above freezing.
You wrote:
“I wonder if Graham’s blog is still running, wish I’d found it when John was still interactive on the web.”
I have this URL for Graham’s blog ….
http://vinyldragon.blogspot.com/
but I see the last entry was on Friday, 27 April 2012. An “Au revoir” entry.
So no joy …
Randy
Thank you Randy! When people disappear from the internet communities it creates concern, and a mystery. I do hope they are both doing well, and have just decided to carry on together enjoying their privacy.
Teri, we do have a little sadness about it, but not too much. The old green boat was becoming a daily reminder of the constrictions in our life, without it we won’t be thinking about going fishing! Who knows, perhaps we will refocus on an outing on the Island Queen! http://www.islandqueencruise.com/
Our weather seems to be similar to yours, hovering around freezing during the day, but below freezing at night, and then, at the end of the week, it dips below freezing day and night. So far the snow has accumulated a bit, lots melting, but still accumulating.
Yes, a cruise on the Island Queen would be lovely! We’ve never been but we have cruised the Thousand Islands area and thoroughly enjoyed it! There’s just something so restful about the water…
We had about half an inch of snow last night. It stuck on the cars and on the grass this time, though it still isn’t sticking to the walkways and roads – yet. Forecasts are threatening our first cold snap of the season for end of this coming week, though, so I think we’ll have some snow accumulating by the time that’s gone by.
Maggie,
Have you curised before?
Tops-did you get sea legs? Sis got sea legs and didn’t care for it because it upset her balance.
Hubby brought home some pressure point bracelets that help with balance for me. Some times my balance is off. The bracelets did not work so I don’t use them but they might be good to bring along in case your balance became tricky. I may not have used the bracelets long enough because I am impulsive. 🙂
I think Maggie might just be talking about a day cruise, Nora. I know the cruise we went on with the 1000 Islands was only 3-4 hours long.
That said, DH and I have been on a couple of long term cruises, now. As a matter of fact, the last one we cruised right by – literally – Hurricane Sandy! Our ship was even called out by name on TV for daring to brave the storm and skirt along the coast. Late that night we had 30-40 foot seas, which is very extreme. Fortunately, being in bed made it easier to withstand. But when we first left port and the days after the highest seas we saw were about 20 ft, and there’s no problem getting around the ship then. The ships have stabilizers now and for something so large they barely bob in seas around the 20 ft wave range.
I too wonder how John and Graham have been doing. I hope they are well, or at least managing.