On March 1st it was looking a whole lot like winter around here. Twelve inches of snow had turned the world white, our creek was clogged with milky slush, and the open water was closing up again. The morning of Tuesday, the 6th of March, It was 11 degrees outside.
By Wednesday, milder temperatures predicted, I went out with my camera to capture the last of winter. The creek was frozen over, but the thin sheets of ice were beginning to collapse. Not yet touched by the sun, the edge of the pond bloomed with ice crystals.
We were entering full melt-down mode. Yesterday, the temperature a balmy 65 degrees, I pulled on my rubber boots and paid another visit. Thick, sticky mud and blackened leaves showed beneath the quickly receding snow and ice on the shore.
Poking up here and there were the foot long bits of sapling the beaver had stripped of bark and then discarded; I gathered these like a bouquet. The air was heavily scented with both rot and something sweet; it smelled like spring. Bending close to the melting snow, I was met by a rush of cold air. Standing up again, a strong breeze wrapped me in warmth.
The end of one thing and the beginning of another.
On the home front, David returned from four days of travel late last night. It is great to have him home, as boy and dog wrangling solo wears me out but good these days. Several nights ago, Pete was yet hard at work on homework and I simply had to call it a night. The covers were up to my chin when I heard him call; “Mom, come here, I need you.” The fact that I was already in bed did not deter him; “It’s really important Mom!” So up I got, expecting to offer questionable assistance on homework well beyond my intellectual scope.
In fact, what he wanted was for me to measure him. There is a penciled mark on the door jamb in the kitchen dating from December and Peter wanted to see if he had grown. Good grief. However, I know it is something very much on his mind these days; he is still shorter than most of his peers just as his mom once was, so I respectfully honored his request. Sure enough, half an inch at least. All parties satisfied, I returned to bed.
And one other thing; my liver enzymes are hanging in there. Mild elevation from Monday, but that is not unexpected (*update–Alice interpreted the results for me, from a local lab with a different range of normal value, and my enzyme levels are actually lower than they were. Woohoo!). Funny, in youth you’re all about growth. For me these days, stability and lack of change can often sound as sweet.
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 