There was a skin of ice on Thurston Pond this morning, as thin and wrinkly as plastic wrap. This first ice of the year is transparent and reflects the trees and sky and clouds the way the pond did before it froze. It will melt later in the day, as the temperature goes up, but it makes a statement: winter is nigh.
Or, as N. M. Bodecker put it, “Hurry, hurry, Mary dear,/ Fall is over, winter’s here./ Not a moment to be lost,/ in a minute we get frost!/ In an hour we get snow!/ Drifts like houses! Ten below!”
We are Northerners here, and endeavor not to panic at a little ice on the pond. But four hours north of here, Carol and Paul have foot-tall snow “muffins” on their outdoor furniture and the railing of their deck. Can drifts like houses be far behind?
Around the neighborhood, lawn care companies are doing one last mowing. Most folks have finished raking leaves. Yesterday, though, the dog and I walked past two workers and a vehicle devoted to the task. The men had amassed a great, deep, long pile of leaves, and they were using a power nozzle to vacuum them all into their dump truck. What a system.
There are still some leaves on the trees, buy fewer all the time. Today’s wind and cold are bringing down the last of the silver maple leaves. Which is fitting in that the silver maple, of all the maples that grow around here, has the leaves shaped most like snowflakes. The weather has necessitated winter jacket and gloves for some time now. I’ve already moved from simple gloves to lined gloves, and today it was time to pull out a scarf in addition to ear warmers. Soon, we’ll be talking mittens.
So, it really is time to put away the summer clothes. I’m sorry to see them go, those light fabrics and carefree colors. Winter fabrics are chosen for warmth. Winter colors have gravitas. Turtlenecks, sweaters, and cords, oh, my! The summer things have been packed up for a while. Now it’s time to stash them and get on with things.
Like getting ready for Thanksgiving, for instance. Nephew Jack and his husband B.J. are coming from New York for Turkey Day, and we couldn’t be more pleased. The house would be clapping its hands, if it could, as it’s getting a nice clean-up, and filling up with the lovely aromas of Thanksgiving treats.
My friend Cindy gave me a jingle late this morning, to propose a quick outing. Would I like to go the Dixboro General Store? Yup. We tooled off to the nearby, unincorporated community of Dixboro and slid into the last spot in the parking lot of its oldest building, the general store. The store specializes in home décor, and it was hopping today. Cindy and I had a fine time checking out the seasonal offerings, and were pleased to find the checkout line was only three customers deep. We’d heard a report earlier of the line being six deep, so we counted ourselves lucky. The staff were uniformly cranky, but I checked two items off my presents-needed list, and got to spend time with Cindy, so I counted the outing a success.
Presents for the dog are easy. It’s all about the experience with him. “You came home! You did! Hurray! I’ll get a toy!” Rascal could go with me on many errands, as did the dog before him, but he doesn’t like to be taken for a spin. On the other hand, he loves being spun. Careful to move him as a unit, I often spin him a half-turn on our coverlet. A whole turn is even better. Several whole turns is the best, bordering on canine ecstasy.
Spinning gets the dog wound up, and I do it right before we go downstairs. Rascal, like our previous dog, disdains to use all four legs to descend a stairway at speed. (If he’s going down to the basement—home of the dreaded laundry sink and baths—he uses all four feet, as slowly as possible.) No, if Rascal is going down stairs happily, he starts the journey on all four feet, and a couple stairs along, switches to using three, eschewing the right rear leg as completely excess to the job for such a talented fellow as he. And when he’s really excited, he kicks that right leg out to the side at the top of the stairs like a vaudeville dance step and streaks down the stairs like Niagara over the falls.
The dog brings joy to any season.
18 November 2022