I had lofty goals to come home and get all of my chores done and pack and take a nice hot bath with custom-made bath salts that a friend gave me … and then I was delayed at work, and all that melted like so much Portland snow. I’m still packing! But in twenty-four hours I’ll be reunited with FunkyPlaid.
When I arrived home, this confused camellia bud greeted me. Happy Solstice!
Writing from: my study in Portland, Oregon. Listening to: a podcast called “LifeAfter” that I am not quite enjoying.
After a wearying week of winter weather, bouts of insomnia, and seasonal ennui, I found myself on this path near the end of my morning commute.
I would like to say that I was 100% thrilled to be going to work this morning, but I was not. I was exhausted and irritated and overwhelmed and pretty daunted by all the slipperiness pictured. I can be pretty idealistic about my profession, but I wasn’t feeling so hot about the logistics, not today.
I started to walk anyway, and as I did I heard the satisfying crunch underfoot and saw the glimmer of the sunrise on the slick outlines of footprints. I moved forward. I did it slowly, but I did move forward.
And it was worth it.
Writing from: my study in Portland, Oregon. Listening to: cars skidding out around the corner.
Here’s how my evening commute went today:
Writing from: my study in Portland, Oregon. Listening to: a loud explosion. Uh-oh, power outages are on the way …
The seasons are changing in Second Life! Here is a glimpse of my wee home all ready for the winter months. When I get irritated by the news – which is often, these days – I spend some downtime wandering through a virtual world. Not that virtual worlds are free of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia, mind you. But sometimes escapism is my only coping mechanism.
Writing from: my study in Portland, Oregon. Listening to: the sound of a virtual blizzard.
Today was a mess in Portland, downed power lines everywhere, huge branches from trees in the middle of the roads, and chunks of ice melting and dropping. The power was out from just past midnight until nearly sundown. Zen and I huddled together for warmth, when she could tolerate me. And the work party I was looking forward to was canceled due to burst pipes. What a Saturday.
Writing from: my study in Portland, Oregon. Listening to: my own cranky grumblings.
Freezing rain continued to fall overnight, and I couldn’t get my car defrosted enough to drive in this morning. The roads and sidewalks were so icy that it took me twice as long to walk to and from the bus. But look at how photogenic the ice-covered trees are!
The power has flickered twice this evening already, so I’m going to bed. I hope we all thaw out in the morning.
Writing from: my study in icy Portland, Oregon. Listening to: still more freezing rain.
I survived! It was a bit painful waking up at a terribly early time this morning just to catch the bus, but come quitting time I was very glad that I wasn’t driving myself home. Trimet to the rescue! The bus couldn’t go faster than 25 miles an hour due to the chains on the tires, but it got me home safely.
Writing from: my study in snowy Portland, Oregon. Listening to: ice pellets hitting the window.