For over two weeks now, David Ritchie and I have been quietly freezing our metaphors off, struggling through three-inch snow drifts, and drinking the last of the port, while nibbling the last of the walnuts. Now, Paul Stone assures us that -7 C is balmy (although he may have said barmy). But that's still cold for the Willamette Valley. The coldest it got was -8. Seattle, too, has been cold and chaotic for a fortnight, and they've had quite a bit more snow.
In the last couple of days there have been numerous sledding accidents, two fatal, and enough fenders have been bent to create a shortage of psychotherapists. A young man died when he fell through the ice in a pond in Washington. Snow and ice makes people crazy here, sometimes with sad results.
Today, though, it's warmed up to ca. 4 C., and there is an air stagnation advisory. I may even take the car out. It's not the snow I'm afraid of--it's my fellow citizens.
Robert Paul watching it melt, somewhere south of Reed College ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
