December in Vermont. Cold, snow, blahblahblah. Lots of snow, actually. Three times during the last 7 or 8 days, I've woken up to find serious snowfall happening outside. 8-10 inches the first time, 6 or so the second, another 6 this morning. Pretty. And messy. But pretty. (And messy.)
Since I find myself still in northern Vermont -- not exactly where I'd expected to be so many months after arriving to begin winding up things here -– and may be here for a while longer, I decided to make the best of it. Rented an office room on a short-term basis, on the third floor of the building owned by the café that is my default hang when I'm in Montpelier. Have found myself getting up freakishly early to drive into town and get a few hours of work done. Every morning this week (including this morning). Which means, on mornings of big snow, pulling out of garage between 6 and 6:30 a.m., driving slowly through side roads deeply buried in thick, virginal white fluff. (Heavy fluff, but still fluff.) Coasting slowly down the one-lane road that descends the hill the house is on, everything quiet, no lights visible anywhere around in the early-morning dark, the experience feeling like a north-country theme park version of a slo-mo toboggan ride. So very quiet, the only noise a muted sshhh as car glides slowly down gradual incline.
An unexpected upside: on mornings when I might be dragging my sad, groggy carcass to the gym for a round of healthy suffering, I now head directly to that little office, on the quiet third floor of that old building, and sit working or having fun with a true high-speed internet connection instead of the faux high-speed connection at the house. (Those ads for satellite internet? The ones that use the words 'high-speed' over and over and over? It's not true high-speed -- do not expect the real thing or you'll be vewy, vewy sowwy.) The café opens at 8, I take a break, go down, get a double espresso, return to my little hidey-hole and continue working/coming to. When I take another break later, I skip over to the gym and do what must be done, looking and acting like an entirely different individual from the poor, suffering bastard the morning staff knew from the wee hours.
The big downside: this getting up long before the crack of dawn (where does that expression come from? would it be from an old Greek myth where Dawn appeared as a divine plumber or refrigerator repair person, wearing clothing that provided unwelcome views of hind quarters?) is not my idea of a good time. I'd rather be in bed under warm covers, snuggling with someone wonderful. But this is all about accepting my life as it is right this nanosecond and making the best of it. So for now I get up early and get all productive.
And the days roll on.
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Dusk, a few days before Christmas -- Vermont:
España, te echo de menos
rws 3:59 PM [+]
Comments:
I love the second photo. Although it is Vermont, it reminds me of winters on my parent's farm in Princeton, MN. While the land and the farm still exist as far as I know, my family no longer lives there.
Same buildings, same snow, same plants and trees, but different scripts and different lives.
What a trip.
Kinda makes me wonder about the nature of "home."
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Same buildings, same snow, same plants and trees, but different scripts and different lives.
What a trip.
Kinda makes me wonder about the nature of "home."
# posted
by 
: 3:25 PM
: 3:25 PM