Into the void

It is nothing short of eerie to sled at night when snow and clouds swirl in the blackness around you. Luckily I had a couple of innocents with me who were willing to chance everything and be sucked into the void along with me. We all survived, but just barely.

The blog author, about to risk her life in the plunge into nothingness. 

And in the meantime, what are folks up to in Crystal, Minnesota?

In Crookston, Minnesota, they’re shivering (see post below). In Crystal, they’re creatively fighting boredom. Here’s the finished product, all made out of post-its (via boingboing and gprime.net):

Reader tells me it could be worse outside…

(Questions, continued:)

And would you be wearing shorts shoveling in Crookston?
Yes…

Give generously, continuously, in many ways, to many places

A story appeared in Le Monde today announcing that Médecins Sans Frontières is putting a stop to any more donations for tsunami victims (the organization is overwhelmed by the magnitude of donations thus far). MSF is also reminding the public that sudden and profound disasters of this nature ought not take attention away from ongoing disasters elsewhere (“les victims des conflicts oubliés, ” victims of the forgotten conflicts). Europhobia suggests that if you feel moved to donate to tsunami relief, you may consider splitting your gift between victims of that catastrophe and those currently starving in Africa. Not a bad idea.

Shoes and socks we need not wear, Hey la dee ay dee ho!

Rumor has it that you went to the grocery store in mere gym shorts and a sweatshirt, even though we are in the middle of a winter storm. Is this true?
Yes.

And is it true that you just shoveled your driveway in similar attire?
Yes.

…and that you have been going in and out of public places dressed in such fashion?
Yes.

Do you know that it is currently 17 degrees F in Madison?
Yes.

How do you explain yourself?
Hearty Polish peasant stock.

Winter gardens revisited

For all my complaints about winter gardens, am I not moved by the prettiness outside as the snow falls and promises to accumulate into beautiful pristine drifts of white fluff?

I do love snow. Here is me, in the snow, back in the fifties, in the Old Country:

Wooden boards, brown laced-up shoes, white snow.

But it is all so temporary. Checking wunderground.com I read for next Tuesday:
Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain. Highs in the lower 40s.

Mud and puddles, coming your way, followed by a burst of the Wisconsin special: an Arctic chill over a barren, snowless landscape.

Like I said, forget the disguise, the white blanket that hides the truth. Winter gardens = ugly.

You again?

Having lived in this town now for 25 years (yikes!) and having moved two kids through the public school system from grades one through twelve, I feel like there are a fair number of people here that I know. Indeed, I have been told (shouted at, in fact): you know more people in Madison than you know in Warsaw, Poland, your *beloved homeland,* don’t you? DON’T YOU?? I’ll at least say that it’s a tie.

So two days ago I ran into a former neighborhood friend whom I haven’t seen for a long long time (she’d moved to another neighborhood). We stood between the grind-your-own- peanut butter and the pick-your-own-dried-herbs sections of Whole Foods and chatted for a long while.

But then, lo and behold, I was waiting at Brocach for my dinner companions to arrive and there she was again – sitting next to the only other free table in the room. Do I go up and awkwardly catch up on the last two days? Do I tell the maitre d’ to please seat me anywhere but close to her? What’s the right and proper thing to do? God, I hate these socially awkward situations!