More than Survival

The sun has swung northward again; we notice it by the light filtering into the bedroom earlier in the mornings, and the faint warmth when we're out in the early afternoons, telling us its fire is not quite so distant. Otherwise, we are settled in for the long northern haul between Epiphany - the end of the holidays - and spring. Somehow the presence of so much snow since early December has made me more cheerful this winter -- at least it looks and feels like a real winter. I stand at the edge of the park and watch three layers of movement: the cars speedily passing in both directions, close to me; the colors and random motions of people and dogs and children entering and leaving the park; and, finally, miniature hockey players gliding up and down on a rink in the distance. Today I was outside for a long walk, enjoying the particular sensation of both biting cold and sunshine that is perhaps reserved for those of us who live pretty far north.

In the metro I passed a young man asleep on a bench, and later, on the street, another cradling his dog inside the same blanket that wrapped his own body. Further down Mount-Royal, a young nun in a blue dress and black headscarf stood talking to one of the street people, asking him questions about how he was doing; he sat on the sidewalk, his head tipped up toward her, speaking sincerely and calmly. And in the metro again, beautiful flute music greeted me as I rode down the escalator: two South American musicians playing what seemed like music from the Andes on a guitar and set of wooden pan-pipes. I slowed and smiled at them; the hollow, reedy, mountain sound has accompanied me all the rest of the day.

Comments

[Zuleme]

Hi Beth,
Here in the Whites everyone is cheerful because we are having a snow covered winter. It means you can get outside and ski. But today is grey, 33 degrees and raining. It has been a warmer winter than in the past, but still, snowy and lovely.

[Fred Garber]

You know the cold has a way of focusing the attention on those everday things. The cold has been biting here in Iowa, too.

[Dick]

Cold as charity here, but mucky, undecided skies, a busy wind & occasional tentative flurries of sleet that just won't commit. Much more of this piss & wind & I'll be on my way north for some real, fat 3D snow!