heading down the home stretch
We above the equator have just about got it made. We’re on the cusp of the last
third of official winter. And you’re welcome to join me in starting spring March
1st. I simply have to begin early to give hope to my bones and joints, which are
really feeling the damp cold weather.
There’s only nine days left in my truncated version of winter, and one of them is
Mardi Gras. Tomorrow New Orleans has the largest North American celebration
of it, as Catholics prepare to (theoretically) give up a few bad habits for 40 days.
You can follow coverage of the big party in the Big Easy on the websites of local
TV stations like WWL.
Up here, about 3000 miles and two ferry rides away from the Crescent City, Jude
and I will mark the event with some red beans and rice. She’ll be returning from
an overnight business trip, so we’d be celebrating anyway. We ‘ll watch a special
Mardi Gras episode of Treme, HBO’s excellent series about a New Orleans neigh-
bourhood rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.
I won’t actually be giving up any bad habits, though. That’s one of the benefits
of being agnostic — a trade-off, really, because we don’t get any religious holidays.
In other news, the community continues to struggle with the loss of Al the Mayor.
Yesterday Jude and I joined Jody, Chris and Mike for coffee. More stories about Al
were swapped, and concern for his widow Sue’s future was shared. We toasted the
old outlaw. He’ll be toasted for a long time, I’m sure.
On the way home, we stopped to visit with a neighbour who was splitting logs
near the road. Two other neighbours stopped and talked. We caught up with
each others’ lives, swapped more Al tales, and basked in the recent great play
of the Canucks.
At home, Jude and I spread cardboard over a new area of the garden as Slinkee
and Ollie searched through it for field mice. It rained on us most of the time.
Then we went inside and did 25 minutes of yoga, with my muscles constantly
carping. We rewarded ourselves with a pizza, and Jude finished packing for her
overnight.
One less day of winter. One day closer to spring. We can do this.
