Celebrating a Year

A foot of snow has fallen, and a bit more will come this evening. P. shovels us out and drives me to the walk-in clinic, as I am getting worse not better. They diagnose the issue, we pick up the prescribed antibiotics and head back home. I snap this truly lame pic as I stumble from car to house. Looking forward to feeling better in a couple of days.

The murder yesterday in Minneapolis has hit hard. The lies told to try to gaslight the country are even more shocking than those told after ICE’s last murder in Minneapolis. The snow falls, and I have fallen ill but am trying to tough it out because there is no way to drive anywhere in this weather. No picture for this day, so here’s one from the archives.

On the road again. Traffic is light, the roads are generally in good shape, we bought groceries yesterday so we are all set to be snowed in down south,

We are packing up and getting ready to flee before the mega-snowstorm predicted for Sunday crashes down upon New England. It’s a week earlier than planned, but circumstances dictate that we must go. So we get things set here for the brutal cold and snow anticipated here as well– more cold, less snow, it seems. Well, as set as possible. But it was difficult navigating the impact of the last snowstorm on our home in the States from up here. This house and this town seem more adept at dealing with winter, so we set things up as best we can and prepare to leave.

Sorry to have been away from posting for a week. The word is too much with me I fear. In our snug abode in Canada a peaceful quiet reigns, and troubles can be held at bay for a bit. But I have family in Minneapolis so the horror there seeps in the cracks and keeps me up at night. Still composing a new piece, and that brings joy.

It seems to snow overnight daily. Luckily I am engaged in my creative work and happy to stay in by the fire, with brief forays into the outside world. Today it’s to eat a delicious meal at a favorite local restaurant, after a stop at our local thrift store to add to our wonderfully mismatched collection of glasses. It’s fun to live in a fully unstocked house.

It’s a white and silent world outside. And inside, music flows from my imagination, refined and edited as I drill down through the score, checking all the parts, thinking of the players, making their parts as melodic as possible so they will be fun to practice alone as well as sounding great in ensemble. I’m engaged and happy with the work. Being here, more isolated than I can possibly be at home and with fewer distractions, is a gift that I treasure.

“This is tyranny. There is no other way to put it. We’re all shocked by it. Nobody ever thought America would look like this. We now don’t have to speculate as to what American fascism looks like. It’s right outside the door.” Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general [from an article by Lydia Polgreen, NYT.]

It’s a football day! We decided not to go out to the sports bar this week– too much noise, fried food, and it requires a border crossing back to the US. Since we have opted to keep the house without television, we are left with online play-by-play. It’s snowing here; it’s snowing there. Our team wins a messy game and we watch the highlights post-game. Nice diversion from the world as it is.