210104 Drums of Doom Sun and Snow

 jan. 4

                 

I went to bed early on December 31, not even staying up to see the New Year in. [The country air demands extra sleep, or perhaps it is winter, reminding me to hibernate, keep warm and watch for the sun's return. It already seems to rise brighter and warmer in the mornings. We had so many overcast days in December that a blue sky was startling to see and the sun was too bright in the south.]

The first three days of the new year, falling on Friday, Saturday and Sunday became an island of time when nothing was planned, nothing seemed to happen, what little I saw of newspapers seemed to have little beyond a re-cap of 2020. Monday morning, then, has taken me by surprise as I return to the world of politics and pandemic. President Trump's continued blatant disregard for the 2020 election results, his overtly illegal action in pressuring the Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger to overturn election results (1) and the admission of "concerns [which] persist that Trump might seek to use the military to keep himself in office, despite his electoral loss" (2); which has been my fear despite the unbelievable nature of such a thing in a long-established first-world country. I say "admission" because I haven't seen the idea much written about until today; nor the concern that Trump-supporting citizens might rise up in arms to seek an overturn. It has seemed that cautionary articles have stopped just short of saying these things aloud; or perhaps the mere words seemed inadequate to the threats. How is it that this controversy continues to push and push at the edges of believability and civilized behavior and words, words are spoken and written but it seems impossible to stop it, the edges don't break? What can break the unreal, the insane, the incredible that reason cannot contest, having no traction in blind outrageous insanity?

On another front, America has now seen the deaths of one in one thousand people to covid-19: how many more have been and are still sick with this virus that defies the usual behavior of infectious disease with novel symptoms and indiscriminate death? Countries around the world, including Canada, are not exempt; many are fighting continued escalations of infection and overwhelmed health-care systems. Now begins a long winter of pandemic protocols which can no longer be considered temporary: we have to accept their permanence through months or years. The vaccine, a real and valuable weapon against the plague cannot be a short or single-handed solution however. As difficult as covid-testing has been, so will be the distribution of the vaccines. 

Doom, doom, I am reminded of the "drums in the deep" in The Lord of the Rings. (3)

*****

The sun is shining. The snow is so white. It feels like I am seeing snow for the first time! All the metaphors are not enough for the sheer whiteness, the mythical, the real. K and I and Fig walked up the hill road almost to the camp at the end; what sort of camp I don't know: logging, hunting, owl-watching? The road, still snow-covered, is navigable because vehicles, including a caterpillar-tread all-terrain vehicle have driven up and down it. If not for that our travels would be curtailed by the deep snow, especially Fig, who twice strayed into deep snow and had to call me to extract his little body from the drift. As it was, he followed in my footsteps mostly very well and had no trouble keeping up. He was not favouring his right foreleg at all. I carried him a little way, to give him a break, but he came on home unhesitatingly.

Blackie, the neighbour's dog came with us on the walk, racing ahead and then off among the trees and back to us.  One of the mountain streams, almost frozen, creeps along beneath the snow.

     

Here is a deer print, so small compared to the moose print! At a turn in the road you can suddenly see the valley through the trees.

          

The plot of Fig's wellness journey thickens, or rather thins, as Fig is skinnier than ever. In early December the vet said his weight loss (3 pounds, more than 10% of his weight) was likely due to his heart murmur which draws extra calories. I had also upped his exercise in recent months, beginning in September in Quebec. But in the last four weeks he has lost more, his hips are slim and his shoulder blades poke up in ridges. So I put that together this morning with his blindness and his fall: perhaps there is more going on here. He continues to eat well, and his business is regular, he is not behaving as if in pain, nor is he fretting. He is quietly cultivating a closer connection to me, as he extends our bond to make use of me as guide and companion, not from a point of weakness, but from a place of friendship; like a marriage partner to whom you turn for support and mutual assistance as you face the challenges of illness or aging. 

*****

We have a personal plow person who arrives without ado and, in a few quick strokes, clears the apron that is our front doorstep and driveway. 

The chalet is quite warm today, with the sun shining in and the outside temperature near zero. 

We haven't lit the fire, preferring to wait, with the grate cleaned ready, until the cold creeps back. 

I am making baked beans today for the second time (in my life!). With my first batch I had a couple of glitches, but they were not mysterious and I have strategies to avoid them, but the product was amazingly tasty and I am making a double recipe because the first pot disappeared! 

Take away only what suits you, leave behind what doesn't. Be well. 

Mumma Yaga

(1) Dan Balz, Trump Knows No Limits..., The Washington Post, Jan. 4, 2021

(2) Dan Lamothe, The Time to Question Election Results..., The Washington Post, Jan. 4, 2021

(3) J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapters 4 and 5.