The birds in frigid cold, are silent.
January 30, 2008
If you could follow me around, you would see that I have not once complained about the weather. And I will not complain about the weather. It is not in my nature to complain about things out of my control. Things like desire, love...snow, cold...It's snowing now -- a sort of steady, slanted sift -- only visible against the dark windows of the buildings across the avenue. It's bizarre that it could be this cold and still snow. The snow is supposed to warm things up. Not this dusty snow. The direction of the snow-sift just changed. Oh, it's still downward, but now it's west to east, as opposed to east to west. Odd. For those reading this in a warm climate, it’s
-28C with a wind-chill of about -42C. By the way, minus 40F and minus 40C are the same. Coming out my daughter’s school the other morning, my nostrils froze together. It’s stunning. Quite a shock to the system.
I love it when people go out into the cold and state the obvious… "It’s cold," they’ll say. Or, “Jeez, It’s bloody cold.” It’s like when people walk into the hot springs up at Miette…It always kills me to hear them as they walk slowly into the PLUS 41C water and say: “It’s hot?!?!” Like they didn’t catch the clue in the name: Miette Hot Springs. People kill me.
I worry about the birds....need to check the bird feeder on the apple tree when I get home. They don't sing when it's cold like this -- like they're trying to conserve every ounce of energy. The birds in frigid cold, are silent.
We’ll market the new book as “Columbus at 4a.m.” Not the best name but a good one. Problem is, the book has multiple story lines. It has a split personality. There are two clear narrative streams with characters that traverse both streams...YIKES! Anyway, there's time to find the right name for this book. I'm still kind of drawn to "Gibraltar" but my wife says she would never pick a book with that title off the shelf. I wonder what others think. Maybe I should run an on-line survey....Hmmmm...
Book Club Offer
Speaking of books, I’m doing a book club in the spring -- going to the club’s session and talking about the book. I would certainly be willing to do more of these…let’s say, anywhere in Alberta. I’ll come to your book club and talk about either book (The 52nd Poem, or Doubting Yourself to the Bone), answer questions, drink wine, and try to be charming…Contact me through the Contact page and I’ll get back to you pronto! I promise!
5 Comments
1. m. had this to say: Jan 30, 2008 ~ 23:36 ~ #
tonight i found this piece of a poem i had written down, i have no idea where it came from…anyway the poem is called “Early Winter” and it is by Kelly Ryan and here is the segment…i hoped you might like it:
“you try to hang on to the last thread
of the dream you were having – like trying
to hold the flavour of chocolate on your tongue
your entire day will be softened by this
memory, as you wear the edges
smooth going over it again and again:
a green rump of land, the two of you
lying on your backs, laughing and laughing”
2. deb had this to say: Jan 31, 2008 ~ 21:09 ~ #
You would come to my book club? Really. And sit with five middle aged women as we drink wine and talk about sex, men, children, work, depression and the book. Of course we talk about the book. A little. I’ll mention it to my group. I loved “Doubting yourself to the bone”, I’ll suggest it to the ladies.
And the cold, it is awful but it amazes how quickly we get used to it. What I don’t understand is how people, women really, survived in this part of the country without central heating and running water. It must have been so hard with babies and small children, no wonder the women died so young.