Let it be Spring

I feel like writing something about my life, but I forget so much of it. Like just a few minutes ago I was certain that I knew what I'd write tonight. I'd just read a few essays by Wendell Berry, and then one by Annie Dillard, and I thought, "Well now I'll have something to say." But in the face of them I'm dumbstruck.

Then I started to read a GQ article on the sad life of Billy Ray Cyrus, who's headed for a divorce, and concerned about Miley. "Well things could be worse," I say to myself. A lot worse.

So what I've noticed lately (and maybe this was what I was going to write about, but I can't say for sure - which is another sign that I'm aging - my memory - which was never that good really anyway) is that this warm weather - the whiffs of Spring now and again, the early thaw and melt - make me anticipate Spring and Summer in a way I just haven't expected.

I'm usually one to enjoy a good long winter. I like the temperature when it's between -15 and -20'C. I like it when it snows. I like it when it blows. I like that shut-in feeling. I like to sit by the fire and read, or whatever. These last few days however, I've started to feel like it would be okay if this was, in fact, an early launch into Spring. I could live with it if it meant that in a few weeks, in March say, I could be cavorting on the lawn in shorts and a t-shirt, or going for an 80 k ride to Walhalla and back.

I would really be okay with it if it didn't snow again this winter. I know it will. I suspect that we'll get another month or so of winter weather, and that the flood they're predicting will, in fact, be significant. Still, I'm ready for warmth. And that's new to me. That readiness.

This winter, the frost has heaved at the ground around our place more than ever before. The earth was saturated in Fall, and we've never experienced our doors shifting as much as they have this year. That's part of my readiness I'm sure. Winter can be a real pain. There are some things that it's just not that good for.

Winter is expensive. The bills go up. You have to heat the house and drive the car. There's wicked wear and tear. I'm sure that when Dad said that a short winter was a good one, he had these kinds of things in mind. Who really wants to pay more, just to stay alive? It's tough enough to pay more to stay happy and entertained, much less just to keep from freezing, or to keep your house from freezing, or to keep your car on the road, or your bike.

At the beginning of third class today we were looking at the pictures of the day on a news website and one of them was of the record snowfall in South Korea. Three boys who love snowboarding immediately wished that that would come here. This reminded me of my own love for the snow back then. Without the cares of bills and house repairs, who really could complain about snowboarding with your buddies or, failing that, staying up late and playing Medal of Honor. For them, snow is entertainment. For me, snow means running the snowblower, and worrying about a flood. At best it might mean a snow-day.

So yeah I'm getting older; I'm praying for Spring. I smile when I smell the melting.

Ride report

in: -1'C wind SE 30 ks

out: 1'C wind W 30 ks