VERMONT
Two hours after I took this photo, the part of the bush bearing the blossoms got so heavy that the branches all hung to the ground. We're expecting an additional 4-8 inches of snow tonight. Pray for the trees, bushes and creatures out in the elements. Thanks!
Snow is not first at this time of year--but Howard is, any time of year.
ReplyDeleteA friend of ours was supposed to be back in town this evening, but is still in Oregon on account of snow. It was supposed to rain here today and maybe tomorrow, but so far it hasn't. Just cloudy and blustery and wintry-looking.
Not a bad day at work--a full day, and some left over, but home by sunset. I am now relaxing, about to watch a movie ("Heaven Can Wait," Ernst Lubitsch director, 1943) and am enjoying my first ever glass of absinth:
http://www.feeverte.net/guide/country/france/vieux_pontarlier_absinthe_fran/
A very refreshing drink, strong anise flavor but several others as well, minty aroma that is said to be that of wormwood, no need for sugar although some people might like that and I think I will try adding a bit towards the end. I diluted it with five or six volumes of cold water, but one could dilute it more than that and it would still be pleasant. The sort of drink one naturally sips and lingers over for an extended period of time--easy to make one serving last for an hour, methinks. Very complex, definitely enjoyable.
Nice firsties, Alan! :!)
ReplyDeleteWeather.com says we've had 12" of precip with this storm. So I just went out and measured and we're up to 9" of very heavy, wet, packed-down snow.
ReplyDeleteLights just flickered.
Germs begone! Electricity persist!
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I remember my father lighting the gas lights when the electricity went out--I was maybe four or five years old. The light was yellow and wavering, albeit not flickering... Our place, the general store etc., was the only place in town that still had gas lights; the rest of the town went back to coal oil after it mostly burnt down. The store was roofed and sheathed in iron, and was on the other side of the street, so it was OK. It also used gas for refrigeration. The gas was free, from a well in the gully in back, where wildcatters had drilled for oil. Before coal oil was available the local folks dipped up oil from natural seeps for their lamps.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Briceland,+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.80241,67.675781&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Briceland&t=h&z=12
One more note on my absinthe experiment (anything for science, LOL!). Unlike any other alcoholic beverage I have ever sampled, it contains a stimulant (allegedly the wormwood, which is said to have other medicinal effects as well--febrifuge, stomachic, etc.). When I went to bed I realized my heart was beating faster than usual. So it is clearly better to be consumed in the late afternoon, before supper, than after--as, indeed, it generally *was* when popular.
ReplyDeleteNice weather this morning, no sign of rain during the night.
Hi guys.
ReplyDeleteChilly and windy here with spatters of rain, but nothing as drastic as snow!
Heaven Can Wait. Hm. Is that the one with Warren Baty? Seems to me it was based on Here Comes Mr. Jordan? That's a good movie, though I never saw Heaven Can Wait.
I believe there have been two or three remakes of Heaven Can Wait. (Ran out of time to see it last night.) From Netflix:
ReplyDelete"...newly deceased playboy Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche) tries to convince Satan he's got what it takes to be a citizen of hell. Unsatisfied that Van Cleve's sins are hell-worthy, the devil listens as the dead man recounts his womanizing ways and the many heartbreaks he's caused his loving wife (Gene Tierney)."
Heaven Can Wait may have to wait; today I ran across references to an English Poet, Christina Rossetti by name, whose 1865 poem "Goblin Market" is so complex and multilayered that no one really knows *WHAT* to make of it even today. I am not much inclined to read poetry, but that sounds like something a well-educated person should have read.
Weather today started out looking very nice, then in mid-afternoon turned very blustery and wintry-looking; just sprinkled very lightly. That's probably all.