Over on our ETSY shop I offer to draw a card of hope, include your message, and send it to your loved one for $21.00. The cards are one of kind creations which take time to emerge. I do not rush a card of hope.
I am foreseeing some extra time in my studio as Hurricane Sandy approaches, and unlike Mosaic Woman, I am dependent upon electricity for my glass work (glass grinder and soldering iron). But I could draw cards by candle light if need be.
2. Lesson Plan Nonsense: With another storm appearing to possibly cause delays and or cancellations of school this week, I really feel like scrapping the whole lesson plan thing. Anyone willing to discuss this with my supervisor?
3. The emotional unrest: I am generally OK with uncertainty, but along with medical test results, I do not do well with snow. The idea of driving out into what may be a nightmare or may be a smooth commute unsettles me. On Wednesday while stuck at a red light, I watched cars making right hand turns down a rather steep transition to the road where I sat. Then I hoped that the garbage truck also kept its traction as it came down in my direction.
4. Snow Days: I don't love them as much as many of my colleagues, because if it snows that much it means I will be:
sore the next day
annoyed by parking in my neighborhood for days if not weeks
and stir crazy from being snowed in
4 b) However:
I don't have to live out that anxiety of driving to work
I can have bonus time in the studio: come back on Tuesday and Thursday for details of what transpired this past Thursday.
Mosaic Woman and I can usually walk to an open restaurant (unless it is a truly amazing storm) and leave a big tip to a brave waitress, who made it to work on a day that I was given off)
5 Snowcatcher's snowcatchers
I had visited this blog a few times before I saw why it is called snowcatcher. Check out her snowcatchers then take a look at the blog as a whole to see some amazing nature and bicycling photography.
6. Snow Lightning: We had some Wednesday night, which is not a good sign if you desire just a dusting (think of a thunderstorm that only produces a drizzle). I had Thursday off from teaching. Have you experience it?
7. Snow Leopards:
an animal which will likely not be seen by many of us for two reasons: one needs to get above 10,000 feet and they are becoming very rare. Years ago I read a book about them by Peter Matthiessen that I may just want to revisit. What I remember from the book was the passion for nature expressed by the author and being shocked by a map that used swastikas to mark off where Buddhist temples were located. I had not known the long history of the symbol and to this day I wish we could steal it back from the hatred it has become associated with because of Nazi Germany.
OK, there I am being mostly innocent at the school's intramural soccer game on Tuesday when I begin chatting with a friend. Rain clouds are forming. Having just checked the radar I say with lots of wisdom, "the rain is far off, but things can pop up."
She says,"I hope it doesn't rain till 8pm when I get home from dinner." I query where she is going and ask what they make there worth eating. She loves the crab cakes. I say, "if you have leftovers bring me some."
Twenty minutes later it is a deluge outside and my classroom phone rings. "You promised it wouldn't rain till 8pm." She is ranting, but in a fun and friendly way. I can hear her office cohort, laughing in the background. These two friends are my stress relief when I finally get to my 7th period prep when I use the excuse to check my mail box as a reason to say hello. I am told I won't see a crab cake.
I try to remind her about saying things might pop up, but she is having too much fun harassing me to care about what I see as the truth. A minute later I am sending her an e-mail with a link to the local radar loop which in beautiful shades of greens, yellows and oranges shows a thunderstorm popping up in our county.
My day also starts with seeing these two for their office is where I sign in everyday. the next morning I arrive and I hear this... "I hope you packed a lunch." I tell her I had no faith in her from the beginning. She sighs and tells me the story that later my wife will find impossible to believe.
She tells me of getting up that morning to find the crab cake she had in her fridge missing. She calls her husband and asks him if he saw it. he says, "yes, I took it with me. I thought it was for me."
She says, "It was for Wayne"
He says, "Who is Wayne?"
This is when I know it is too late. Coveting crab cakes have gotten me in trouble.
I am blessed to have these good folk in my life, the two at work, not the husband who ate "my" crab cake.
