Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Winter is Here

If it wasn't here already, winter is here now. A storm hit this morning and brought rain. This isn't the kind of rain that other places would call a heavy drizzle. It's the rain that you hear pounding on the roof and the sidewalk, so you go to the front door to be amazed as you watch it come down. And as you're standing there, you want to turn on the stove under the tea kettle. Or, rather, you would want to get the tea kettle going, if you hadn't forgotten about it last week and let it boil dry until the metal turned colors and it started flaking off inside the kettle, so the flakes come out when you pour the water, so now you're using a saucepan and ladle for making tea water, until you can remember to go buy a new kettle, which will lose the whistle shortly after purchase, just like the burned-up one did.

But it's winter, and the traffic report says there are accidents out there "too numerous to mention them all," because all the months without rain made the oils from all the cars build up. And now that we have rain, all that oil floats on top of the rainwater. It's not that people here don't know how to drive in the rain. It's that people don't know how to drive on an oil slick, and they miscalculate and then get into trouble.

But the rain had stopped before I left for work, so I didn't have an oil slick to drive on, and I got to work without incident.

As soon as the clouds clear away from the mountains in the distance, where people go skiing, the view should be breathtaking. I'm looking forward to it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Skyepuppy,

You sound like a woman who is depressed about the passing of the Holidays. Your words express a bitterness that might indicate a gift not received, or perhaps a physical need whose satisfaction is long overdue.

Let me just add to your joy by suggesting that there may be studies which show links between the human aging process and stovetop incidents like the one you described.

Have a nice day.

SkyePuppy said...

Chris,

You're too kind. Perhaps.

"Bitterness"? Hardly. "Physical need"? Ummm... I'll continue without direct comment.

As for the studies, well, they may suggest such correlations, but as long as I can still remember that I've been forgetful since the day I was born, I won't have to worry about senility. My daughter forgets the tea also, but she forgets it after she's poured the water in the cup, and she just turned 20.

Thank you ever so much for adding to my joy. I do believe I'll have a nice day. I'd recommend that you might want to have one too, but I suspect you already are.

Anonymous said...

I had to laugh when I read your post because just last week I put the tea kettle on for green tea (anti-oxidants, you know), went upstairs to my computer room - came back down 20 minutes later - and there was very little water left.

I was lucky.

But I do think smart people like you have such interesting thoughts that distract you - and it's easy to forget things like roaring tea kettles.

And yes, I'm having a nice day.