stone_feather

Coming out of Darkness!

The equinox passed last week, and the pussy willows are coming out. Buds are swelling and I the seeds I planted for our garden in little peat pots in the window are growing like crazy. I can't wait to plant our garden.
The snow is melting fast and only remains in spots where it was deep or in areas in the shade.

Everything is coming out of darkness and waking up, as well as my mind!

Musings Global Warming

Maybe it's just the SAD creeping in, but I sure have been thinking about it alot recently. There's alotta talk on the news up here seems like at least once a week I hear something about it. Glaciers retreating. Spruce Bark Beetles having their way. 2005 was the warmest year on record next to 1998. Polar bears are having to swim alot more. And the polar ice cap is retreating.

I guess what's got me thinking about all of this happens to be the book that Joe got me for Christmas, Thin Ice, by Mark Bowen

It's Cold: different ways of looking at it

We awoke to crystal trees
And chain link/ice fences,
Triangles of frozen air
Peeking between superfrozen metal frames.

Looking up toward the sun
through double-paned window,
standing over the heater vent in my bathrobe,
The air is full of glitter.

Today a thin
sand-snow powders down all day long
sticking to the frost
so that ice-trees become snow trees.

Icicles begin to rival men in size
Stopsigns become yield signs.
Another day goes by
That I don't get outside while the sun is up.

Today we drove here in the dark,
To make turn after turn over fresh powder,
Shivering on the way up the lifts before we do it again.
We drive back, a line of yellow lights winding west in the dark.

Humankind Program: Count Your Blessings

I heard this great radio program on the show Humankind on NPR today about being grateful Humankind Program: Count Your Blessings. Click to Listen to the show.

Things I am grateful for:
my husband
skiing
snow falling
the bow of a fishing pole
seeing your breath in the winter
nutritious food
friends near and far
family near and far
mountains
water
birds
whales
trees
evening light
stars
snow falling in streetlight beams
studded tires...

The Saga of Alaska weather continues..

So, after all that beautiful snow, it rained for a day and warmed up to a balmy 35 degrees F. Then, two days later, it snowed another couple of inches. I actually went (x-c) skiing here in town on the hillside on Sunday night, and might go tonight as well. If you're wondering how cold it actually is here, visit the NOAA Forecast page for Anchorage.

It Snowed!

Someone must have been listening to all my ranting yesterday. We got a little dusting of snow this afternoon, while I was working in the field, to my delight! And the weather forecast has now been revised to include snow thru the weekend. I'm hoping to ski soon...

A Prayer for Snow

Each day I wake
and part the curtains of my dark room
to look out into the darkness
white phantoms dancing in my imagination

Will there be a new mantle
of white
touching everything
ever so softly?

All is suspended,
waiting
for winter.

We Want SNOW!

Sunrise: 9:04AM Sunset: 4:23PM Current Temp 21°F
Yesterday we went x-c skiing at Hatcher's Pass, driving an hour and a half to find snow. There was snow in Girdwood a half hour away, but ski races had everything all shut down. There has been three tiny snowfalls since the day before Halloween, probably adding up to a whole half of an inch total. Just enough to make neighborhood streets icy in the shady spots, and so that some of the brown deadness of late fall in Alaska has been covered up. I want it to dump! I want it to drop a load of white stuff all over the place. I want to taste snowflakes on my tounge, to hear my skis pushing off beneath me, I want the crunch under my feet, to have to shovel the driveway, and to tap my feet together before I swing my feet into the car. I want it all! I want the snow to fall silently under a calm gray sky, covering every detail of the forest, outlining all the intricacies of the branches of trees and shrubs. I want to watch it fall, silently. It falls much slower than rain, and I think it is one of the most beautiful things in life, to watch snow fall. Last year I would wake up and look out my bedroom window, towards the nearest streetlight to see if snow was falling through the peachy-yellow cone that was case below it. The excitement would well up in my heart as I parted the curtains. I am waiting for that feeling to come again as I open the curtains each day to the dark Alaskan mornings.