Adrienne done and finally I get back to my own work again

I finally finished my long essay on the collected poems of Adrienne Rich, revised it and sent it off to Josh Weiner at TIKKUN who had commissioned it. For the next three days, I wrote a poem every day and today I revised a short story I’d written before all this started. Then i had to make some corrections and revisions to the essay; now it’s back to Josh and off my mind. We got about four inches of snow yesterday and are expecting up to a foot or more today – it’s already started. We will be snowed in. I just hope with the high winds and blizzard conditions, we don’t lose power. It’s always very scary in winter – annoying in summer, but frightening in winter. Last night we started pmpir seed orders for our garden to plant this new year – always a life affirming activity. Schwartzie was puzzled by the snow. Much bird activity at the feeders and for the ground food. But now the ground food is covered again. I am also trying to straighten up the house and once again return to winnowing possessions, clothes, books, everything. I’m urging Woody to do the same, but it’s more difficult for him than it is for me. I go through my closet about twice a year. If I haven’t worn a piece of clothing in two years, I try it on to see why. Either it goes back into circulation or I get rid of it. Usually there’s a good reason I haven’t been wearing whatever it is. Same with shoes. Usually either the pair is worn, down at heels or just uncomfortable; then out it goes. With books, the criteria is, Will I actually reread this? or if I haven’t read it yet, why not? With objects, it’s a mixture of usefulness and aesthetic value. With cookbooks, do I cook anything out of this or is it just full of recipes I will never, never make. New Year’s Eve with Dale and Stephen we ate remainder of the cassoulet from the party and newly made gravlax. We exchanged presents since they had been out of town over the holidays. Last Sunday, New Year’s Day, we took the tree down, stowed the ornaments, put the furniture back in place. It’s like the story about the rabbi who told the man who complained about how small his house was to bring in the cow, the sheep, the chickens, etc. Then put them back out; how large his house felt then. Our livingroom seems twice the size. Willow particularly mourned the tree but when I put out their tunnel and the clown house came back from the off-limits icecold sunporch, she perked up. There’s always a certain amount of excitement and an equal amount of anxiety when we await a big storm. It’s gotten much colder and is supposed to get colder yet. So wish us luck. Woody bought a snow blower last year and is trying to get it started now. They are saying we may get up to a foot and a half of snow here. Everything on the Cape is cancelled, some evens till tomorrow, some indefinitely.