A Repeat of Today

January 25, 2022 — Pat Bertram

This was a strange day weatherwise. It started out cold, hovering around thirty with still air and sunny skies, but as the morning progressed, fierce winds blew in clouds and colder temperatures. By midafternoon, the temperature had dipped even further, and a few flakes of snow fell. It snowed half-heartedly for a while, dropping perhaps as much as an inch, though it was hard to measure since for the first hour, the snow melted when it hit the ground.

By the time I walked home from work, there was a layer of ice beneath the still falling snow, but the snow was so lackadaisical and the clouds so low, it seemed more like a foggy evening than a snowfall. I made sure to step carefully because of the iciness, though with the heavy tread on my shoes and the help of my trekking poles, I wasn’t in much danger of falling.

A bit further north (more than a bit, actually, perhaps 90 miles due north), the towns got dumped on. Two feet! Amazing what a difference a few miles can make.

We have a respite tomorrow then a repeat of today on Thursday. I mean a repeat of today’s weather, of course, though I wouldn’t mind a repeat of today in other respects, too. It was a nice, easy day — no traumas, no dramas, no . . .

[I paused here to check Google to see if there were any other appropriate words that rhymed with drama and trauma to keep the rhythm going, but I couldn’t find anything except words like mama and llama and comma, which would not make any sense in the context I wanted. However, immediately below “what rhymes with drama” I saw, “What word rhymes with Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?” I’m cracking up here, wondering why anyone would need to rhyme such an obscure term that supposedly refers to a lung disease caused by silica. For a poem about lung disease? For a bit of poesy in an otherwise prosy essay, such as I was trying to do with my drama/trauma coupling? It boggles the mind!]

I hope your day was as nice as mine. I also hope it included a new word as well as a chuckle or two.

***

Pat Bertram is the author of intriguing fiction and insightful works of grief.

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The Cycle of the Seasons

March 1, 2021 — Pat Bertram

Despite all the snow that fell here this winter, we’re still in a drought situation. The snow was the light, airy kind that couldn’t hold together to make a snowball. Not that I wanted to make snowballs, but a couple of people in snowless country wanted me to make a snowman or snowwoman or some kind of snow creature. Apparently, the sort of snow we got didn’t hold much moisture, hence the lack of snowballs.

I don’t imagine the lack of winter moisture will make much difference to me and my garden. When the ground dried between storms, I made sure to water my greengage plums and a few other prized plants. I’m hoping that will be enough to give them a good start this spring.

Spring? Wow, that’s not so far away — only nineteen days! We generally have late snow storms and late frosts, so planting time isn’t until May, but maybe I should start thinking about what I want to plant when the weather becomes optimal. Or not. Since I don’t want to drive a long way, and don’t really have much luck with mail order plants, I’ll be at the mercy of the local hardware store. I suppose I could buy the plants early and keep them inside to give them a better start, but that decision is still many weeks away.

Meantime, I am enjoying the sun and the warmer weather. And I certainly will appreciate the lower heating bills!

One of the odd things about having lived so many years, is that time moves faster in relation to one’s time here on Earth, and so it’s easier to feel the seasons cycling from one to another. Which, of course, is a good reason to enjoy whatever the day brings because before you know it, arctic temperatures will return. But perhaps, with a bit of luck, not until next year.

***

What if God decided S/He didn’t like how the world turned out, and turned it over to a development company from the planet Xerxes for re-creation? Would you survive? Could you survive?

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