Poets over the ages have proffered plenty of advice for the coming months. Poet Pietro Aretino, born in the 15th century, said, "Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius." William Blake wrote, "In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." There's a Japanese proverb that says, "One kind word can warm three winter months."
Emily Dickinson wrote, "There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons — That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes." Existentialist Albert Camus wrote, "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." Victor Hugo once said, "Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart."
Well, it's 7:30 and the girls are up, noisy and happy despite some coughs, as they have school parties today. Outside, the sky's clear, and as I look through the bare trees and over the pines, I can see a bit of pink but mostly a sky tinged with blue...a clear, crisp, cold morning And I forgot, Coco is up, frisky and happy, driving us all nuts. Jill has volunteered to help in Halle's class today and Evie's going as well, taking most of the morning.
Girls made it to school, though neither one is feeling chipper. Evie and Jill are showering, then going to wrap a few presents, before heading off to help with the school parties. I have been reading the papers, catching up on email, and now I'm going for a walk, one of my vows for this vacation, to get some exercise in each day. So far, so good.
I am sitting in Caribou coffee now, a couple of miles from Jill's home, in a small shopping center with a Safeway, fairly new I think. I walked close to an hour, exploring her neighborhood, the various configurations of homes and streets, took a shower, and came here because Evie and Jill were off to the girls' school to help with parties. This is a densely populated areas, with huge tracks of homes built probably close to ten years ago, obviously a boom area, as the schools are too small and a couple of new ones are being built. There are a couple of main roads, and them in both directions are housing clusters, depending on the size of the development and shape of the land. In Jill's area, for example, there are steep drops, off towards a creek, and homes follow this meandering waterway. Lots of pipe stems, as they are called here, lead off of auxiliary roadways. Towards the end of her street, our apartments as well, giving you the sense of being part of a larger community of homes and apartments, with little space in between to take advantage of the land's development potential. As far as I can see, there are little if any open spaces in the residential area. Near the school is a large recreational complex for the development, with tennis courts, play grounds, and a large outdoor swimming pool, the focus of summers for many residents, as many if not most kids are involved in the swim program.
We picked the girls up from school at 3:30, though we had a heck of a time capturing the dog to put a leash on him. He's pretty good at avoiding our grasp but I finally got him with a treat. Picking up the girls is like plucking them off a long, winding line of munchkins, all on their way home, with assorted bags and back packs. Some parents, like us, were waiting for them at the stop sign, other kids, mostly boys ran home, playing along the way. The girls then played outside till dark, for about an hour, and now we are getting ready to grill burgers, Juicy Lucy's, outside.
Girls made it to school, though neither one is feeling chipper. Evie and Jill are showering, then going to wrap a few presents, before heading off to help with the school parties. I have been reading the papers, catching up on email, and now I'm going for a walk, one of my vows for this vacation, to get some exercise in each day. So far, so good.
I am sitting in Caribou coffee now, a couple of miles from Jill's home, in a small shopping center with a Safeway, fairly new I think. I walked close to an hour, exploring her neighborhood, the various configurations of homes and streets, took a shower, and came here because Evie and Jill were off to the girls' school to help with parties. This is a densely populated areas, with huge tracks of homes built probably close to ten years ago, obviously a boom area, as the schools are too small and a couple of new ones are being built. There are a couple of main roads, and them in both directions are housing clusters, depending on the size of the development and shape of the land. In Jill's area, for example, there are steep drops, off towards a creek, and homes follow this meandering waterway. Lots of pipe stems, as they are called here, lead off of auxiliary roadways. Towards the end of her street, our apartments as well, giving you the sense of being part of a larger community of homes and apartments, with little space in between to take advantage of the land's development potential. As far as I can see, there are little if any open spaces in the residential area. Near the school is a large recreational complex for the development, with tennis courts, play grounds, and a large outdoor swimming pool, the focus of summers for many residents, as many if not most kids are involved in the swim program.
We picked the girls up from school at 3:30, though we had a heck of a time capturing the dog to put a leash on him. He's pretty good at avoiding our grasp but I finally got him with a treat. Picking up the girls is like plucking them off a long, winding line of munchkins, all on their way home, with assorted bags and back packs. Some parents, like us, were waiting for them at the stop sign, other kids, mostly boys ran home, playing along the way. The girls then played outside till dark, for about an hour, and now we are getting ready to grill burgers, Juicy Lucy's, outside.
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