Snow, snow, and a little more snow

We’d had a relatively mild winter until this week. It had rained more then snowed here. We still picked off an occasional tick from working outside, hardly something to celebrate. But it was possible to do some work and still pick parsley from the herb bed and walk all over our land. No longer. Thursday the snow began in the late morning and grew almost impenetrable within half an hour. The lights kept flickering but we didn’t lose power. However, many people in Wellfleet did, including friends. The wind howled well into the night. Branches broke and some hit the house, but we lost no trees this time. Friday morning was frigid but glittering. The wet snow clung to the evergreens, weighing them down, stuck to the fences, mounded on everything. Since we live on a hill, the road felt miles away – there was no way of reaching it, even though the plow had come through several times. Woody spent most of the morning clearing the way from the house down to the road and digging the truck and car out. I have found it slow going recovering from the walking pneumonia. I thought that phrase meant that you could be at least somewhat active while suffering from it, but my doctor explained it meant that it moves around the lungs and sometimes around the body. It walks, not me although I tried to work as much as I could. I’m still on the weak side, with less stamina than I’m used to. But Thursday I began a serious exercise routine aimed to getting back in shape to do what I want and need to accomplish. My assistant Penny and I have been sending out several groups of poems since I recovered enough to work with her a full day. It’s still relatively slow going for me in writing, but I wrote and revised a couple of new poems this week. I finished the books by Nnedi Okorafor and read Michael Chabon’s Moonglow that I very much enjoyed. I started Basma Abdel Aziz’s novel, The Queue this morning. I just had time to read a couple of pages while having coffee. Yesterday was a very busy day after the storm. Thursday, two appointments I had were cancelled including a haircut, so I’ll remain straggly for another week. Mingus didn’t get his blood work done at the vet’s. Woody couldn’t get to WOMR. Even yesterday, a doctor’s appointment was cancelled. Friday we had to cancel Mingus again as Woody was working hard to clear the driveway down to the road – we live on a hill. The town had plowed the road already by 10 a.m. but we couldn’t get to the road and both the car and truck were buried in huge snowdrifts. By noon he had it all cleared and a friend came to pick me up so we could have lunch in town at The Well. Ever since I came down with walking pneumonia, I had only been to the doctor’s and back except for last Friday when Woody dropped me off in Orleans to see Gigi while he went to the gym. But yesterday, I not only had lunch with Janet but in the evening we met old friends Bonnie and David for supper at Russ and Marie’s, one of our favorite eateries. I felt quite liberated to go out twice in one day and today we’re going to Hyannis to get a night table for Woody and do some meat shopping at Whole Foods.