One of the fring benefits of a snowy winter is snow shadows, in the late afternoon, they dance across the snowbeds in all kinds of amazing, artistic and original designs. I’m going to be out in the cold looking for them.
Herman, my fear-in-the-night-voice, made a huge ruckus about the weather, subzero temperatures and driving of the Library Tour. He got to me a bit, as I got up at 3 a.m., looked at the weather on my Ipad, and saw that it will be – 20 tomorrow here on the farm, with another possible storm zeroing in mid-week. I shouldn’t leave the farm, I thought. What about the dogs and donkeys? I’ll be driving all over the Northeast in snowstorms visiting libraries and forcing people out into the cold. Then I started thinking about money, aging and computer issues. You know, the wheel. Herman was busy
I woke Maria up and she laughed at me, and went to sleep. If there is a dark cloud on our relationship, it is this: Maria always sleeps, from the second her head hits the pillow to morning, when she has to be dragged screaming out of bed. This grates on me watching her sleep. Herman on the other hand, never sleeps.
“Don’t go,” Herman said. “You’ll be sticking Tracy with a snow and ice bound farm. The dogs will need you. Pipes will freeze, the donkeys will suffer, the roof will collapse, the oil will run out of the basement tank. Plus, nobody wants to come out and her you talk in this weather. Be considerate.” Herman knows how to get to me, but as of late I’ve been ridiculing him.
“Herman, you are worthless. Soon to be homeless. Nuts to you. All you know is fear-in-the-night stuff, nothing useful. Increasingly, you seem like a pest to me, not a menace. You are getting boring. And I have a new rule. Anything you say I shouldn’t do I will. And anything you say I should do, I won’t.” I might make bad decisions, but they do not come out of fear.
So I’ll be blogging throughout, putting up the “Inside The Library Tour” posts and photos every day. No matter what,the library tour will be fun and worthwhile. I don’t even think it will storm this week. And a whole bunch of people have already said they are coming to Granville Sunday, no matter what the weather.
Me, too. Monday we head to Cobleskill, N.Y. Then Scoville Library in Salisbury, Conn. (Tuesday). And Wednesday, Richboro, Pa., the Free Library of Nothampton. In addition to the Ipad, camera, tripod, Ipod, we are adding boots and parkas. Maybe snowshoes. Kind of exciting. Herman will stay here.
