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Dear Friend,
I think, for once, I might not write about work, and how things work, and rather focus on the “snow on the pine” like the haunting demo version of Paul Simon’s “Duncan”. The snow is falling fast. It looks like we have a couple feet stacked up by successive storms on the front porch.
Today is Saturday. It is the third storm of the week. After, Thursday’s dump, big snowball globs would hurl in the slightest breeze off surrounding trees and pelt the roof of the cabin. The night before last was very restless as a result – not to mention Sammy on edge with every thud.
So I’m a little out of sync this morning, feeling groggy and unfocused. Sammy and I just lounged all yesterday. On a totally sunny day like that, even a modest morning fire preheats things enough that the loft is a 90-degree sauna by early afternoon. Sammy loves basking on “his” bed up there.
The bed is his in two distinct ways.
The only resolution we could come to between me wanting enough space to actually sleep and Chloe refusing to make Sammy sleep anywhere else, was to double the size of our bed, so that it now fills almost the entire loft, a plush memory foam square roughly 7′ to a side for a 17lb dog.
Of course, Sammy finds this playroom irresistible, and as soon as a fire is lit in the stove he is tapping his paw on the bottom rung of the ladder and glancing expectantly at us – “Ahem. Take me to my spot.”
So Sammy spends roughly half of his indoor hours lounging and romping with his own private floor while Chloe and I cook, hang, and work downstairs. It’s a good thing he’s so damn cute.
The trees are loaded up again. It’s mostly balsam fir, and a few pines, and then the kaleidoscope of bare deciduous branches with an equal measure of pure white snow on top, creating a drop-shadow effect like from some 90’s graphic design software. Through the cabin windows, it recedes to gray in the distance, especially as the blizzard picks up.
I think I am equal parts thrilled to be home, and going stir crazy with cabin fever. I do not want to leave, and yet I do desperately want more social interaction. I am also too timid and a little too tired to make committed decisions to hang out with people.
Thus, I am so pleased that J1 suggested backyard skiing, and another J2 grabbed my attention at the coffee shop this weekend to suggest XC skiing. So I am hatching coastal skiing schemes with both.
I believe today will be legendary for my all time favorite near-coastal spot, ten minutes from where I live. I’m hoping for 3 laps at least and that Sammy will thrive without needing a pack carry.
Then maybe another day I can finally complete my long-anticipated ski tour from the cabin to the beach.
Taking care of Sammy and feeling a little off-balance and reclusive, it is the ultimate adventure for me at the present time. I’ll report back later!
Time to finish some housing work for the town of Prospect.
Love,
Brad