The Daily: 29 November 2023

In this culture, holidays are exhausting. Even when there isn’t a grand production of a gathering, there is still a decided lack of sleep. There is often travel as well, since few of us get to live near our loved ones. And then there are all the tasks that needed to happen for the week and did not because it was a holiday. Except we still need clean laundry and food for the week to follow.

We’ve also had a bit of rough weather here in central Vermont. We had a white Thanksgiving. Things were calm but cold on the weekend. But then Monday morning we woke up to a rather unexpected foot of snow — heavy, wet snow. The forecast for Sunday night called for maybe a few inches of snow at higher elevation and temperatures above freezing most places. They were so wrong…

Trees were broken all over my town. Much of the town had no power for much of the day. Traffic lights were largely dark. No communications. Heat only for those with wood stoves (not pellet stoves, because most of those have electronic thermostats and feeders). No light except candles to get ready for school and work in the predawn darkness. And for some reason, probably related to the botched forecast, no weather delays. So we all had to get where we needed to be regardless of the danger.

For me, this involved shoveling a path around the house, across the street, and up the drive to the garage. There had been little plowing, but what did happen was hilled up in 3-4 foot ridges on either side of the road. I had to cut a channel through two of these heavy piles, one just my width, the other wide enough for my car. Then there was the garage door. One forgets how heavy those things are until the power goes out.

But the real fun was the drive. Not much plowing or sanding on the highway. Several inches of semi-frozen slush covered the most of the road. Only one lane had anything like tracks to follow. And there were a few total asshole truck drivers who just couldn’t be bothered to drive slower. One passed me in a particularly thick section of slush and sent a clod of ice into my passenger side door strong enough to shake the car.

It has not completely stopped snowing since Sunday night. The forecast is calling for a couple days of drying out before another huge storm hits, but then they’re also saying it will be well above freezing, almost 50°F… when it is 17°F right now… hard to believe that we’re going to warm thirty degrees overnight. Much easier to believe that we’ll have snow for the next seven days. At least…

I am tired.

If this was a rational culture, I would be allowed to slow down and rest in these dark days of the waning Winter Sleep Moon.

This is not a rational culture…

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Wednesday Word

for 29 November 2023

rest

You can respond in the comments below or go visit the All Poetry contest for November. Your response can be anything made from words. I love poetry, but anything can be poetic and you needn’t even be limited to poetics. An observation, a story, a thought. Might even be an image — however, I am not a visual person, so it has to work harder to convey meaning. In the spirit of word prompts, it’s best if you use the word; but I’m not even a stickler about that. Especially if you can convey the meaning without ever touching the word.

If responding on All Poetry, you are limited to the forms of that medium, though my contests are fairly open as to form. However, if you have something long, post it in the comments below. That said, please don’t go too long. Keep it under 2000 words. I’m not going to count, but I’m also not promising to read a novel.

Unless it’s really good!

If you have nothing to say, that’s fine. I know you all are busy and distracted. But if you’ve read this far, then I’ve made you think about… rest.

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©Elizabeth Anker 2023