In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
TIME: 4:38 PM
PLACE: Bicentennial Park
SUBJECT: Sign and fountain
I saw fog rising from the melting snow on my way home from work.
I stopped at the park and took a couple of pictures.
I didn’t really capture what I wanted…but these photos will do.
SUBJECT: Sculpture
I can’t wait until the trees are full of green leaves again.
“But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm”
Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. Birches (l. 21-22). . . The Poetry of Robert Frost. Edward Connery Lathem, ed. (1979) Henry Holt.
TIME: 5:13 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Ice covered branches
Well, Ice-Pocalypse 2011 has arrived. The kids were off of school today and it has already been called off again for tomorrow. It’s cold. Freezing cold. In fact, tomorrow night they are calling for below zero temps – *shivers*. Here’s hoping the electricity stays on. If not, we’re heading for Dad’s house and his fireplace. Pop, I know you read this, so don’t be changing the locks on us!
“As Mother Nature turns down the temperature, we tend to turn up the thermostat.”
Michelle Mueller, vice president of customer services for San Diego Gas & Electric.
TIME: 7:45 PM
PLACE: Kitchen
SUBJECT: Jack
You know it’s cold in the house when the cat sits on the heat register. I might need to rethink the thermostat settings.
“I had stopped to watch a family of brilliant icicles drip- dripping from the eaves of a frame house….”
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. "The Vane Sisters," Nabokov's Quartet (1966). The beginning of the story.
TIME: 4:03 PM
PLACE: Looking out the back door
SUBJECT: Icicles hanging off the porch eave
Shortly after I took SD’s photo yesterday, she started involuntarily emptying the contents of her stomach and continued to do so until about 1am this morning. I wasn’t feeling to up to snuff myself. Needless to say, she didn’t go to school and I didn’t go to work today. It was very cold today, I don’t think it got out of the teens, so it was kind of nice to be able to snuggle under the blankets with her and watch TV and nap all morning. We are feeling much better now, so it looks like school and work are both back in the picture for us tomorrow.
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake...”
Francis Bacon, Sr. (English Lawyer and Philosopher. 1561-1626)
TIME: 3:19 PM
PLACE: North side of the house
SUBJECT: Icicle on Rose of Sharon branch
Back to the grind today. I was sooo tired. That’s what I get for staying up way too late and playing Peggle on the Xbox. Stupid, addicting game cutting in on my sleep time – but I managed to muddle through work and made it back home without falling asleep at my desk. After I ate a late lunch, StellaDella just had to show me the icicles she spied out of the window by my computer desk. She thought it was so cool how the afternoon light made them sparkle. They won’t be here much longer, we are expecting temps to hit the mid to upper 50’s along with some rain on Thursday.
“Now is the solstice of the year,
Winter is the glad song that you hear.”
Jethro Tull. "Ring Out, Solstice Bells." Songs from the Wood. By Ian Anderson. Island Records, London, 1977.
TIME: 8:10 PM
PLACE: Mall parking lot
SUBJECT: Moon
Today marks the official beginning of winter here in the Northern hemisphere. Technically it began here at 5:38pm Central Standard Time. I was cleaning up the dinner table when it started. We ate a little earlier so DramaQueen and I could go shopping afterwards for some final Christmas gifts. As we were leaving the mall (and it was torture being there, the crowds were killing me), we saw the full moon as it came out from behind the clouds for a brief moment. It was nice to see. We wished that we could have seen the lunar eclipse last night, but the sky was overcast and prevented us from observing it.
