American Elephants

We have no snow. None. It snowed a tiny bit, but not enough to turn anything white, nor enough to look the slightest bit wintry. I am always torn. Home. We all have somewhere we think of as “home” and it may not be where we currently live. I have lived in this Seattle suburb for around fifty years, and it remains Idaho that is home. And undoubtedly will always be, and eventually I’ll be buried in Idaho.

Do most of you have that relationship with a specific place, and is it where you grew up or somewhere else? Americans are moving around a lot, often companies send their employees to different company locations. That’s what happened to us, big corporation, lots of transfers. Lots of people moved for better opportunities, joining family, better job, Moving companies don’t seem to be high on the bankrupt list. I’ve lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, California’s East Bay, Palo Alto, Portland, Walla Walla,and Phoenix. I detest California. But Idaho remains “home”.

What is “home” to you now? Is it where you were born, where you grew up, where you went to work in a lifelong career? Or where your family “came from”, Do you have generations in a single locale? I don’t know if there is a standard for “home” for most people. Do chime in, I’d love to hear from you.

That threatened snowst0rm disappeared, thank goodness, and never happened. This particular Seattle suburb is full of hills, some significant and others not, but if it snows enough to make the streets slick, it’s a big deal. There was a small amount if white stuff drifting down briefly, but fortunately it didn’t amount to anything, and turned out to be a false alarm.

It’s Sunday, and apparently people are staying home. Not much traffic, hardly any sirens, so everybody;s behaving. Out getting their Christmas trees, putting up the Christmas lights, a little shopping. Our main drag at the bottom of he hill seems quiet and not particularly busy. Beginning to see Christmas lights on some neighbors houses, but only a very few. We are apparently not ready for Christmas here—yet. But it has started.

I’m still trying to figure out what I am going to get for whom and where. Leaning towards the useful, rather than the exciting or amazing. I guess you could say I’m just not in the Christmas Spirit just yet. Only one house on the lane just downhill has Christmas lights. Sometimes it’s just hard to get going. Maybe a couple of more days of remembering past Christmases will help.

Looks like pretty wet snow, so it will be changing to rain as it warms up a little. Groceries were delivered yesterday, so there is no need to go anywhere anyway, which is nice. In a city with so many hills, snow is not particularly welcome. The kids love it if there is enough to make the streets sledable. But of course, city snow is not particularly welcome any time. Just a problem. I think I was dreaming last night about putting on my snowshoes to go somewhere. The “snowstorm” was short lived, it has stopped snowing. In the bare tree just outside my second story window, dead leaves have fallen and arranged themselves into the size and shape of a robin, more or less. Looks like a bird just sitting there. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s just leaves! Odd!

Down at the bottom of my hill, the main East-West drag is remarkably quiet, so everybody is apparently staying home. Sensible. At home in Idaho, we were well-prepared for snow. Had a snow plow for the Jeep truck, so we didn’t have to rely on the County to get around to our side road, and the neighbors relied on us.The hill down to our place from the highway was short enough to be easy to pull a sled up, and long enough (with a banked extension) for a satisfying run. Had lots of sledding parties. It has stopped snowing, and I changed the headline. No sirens, so everybody’s staying out of trouble.

Dead leaves on the bare Vine-maple just outside my window have arranged themselves into the size and shape of approximately a robin, so it looks like I have a bird to keep me company. Odd.

It’s strange for a country person accustomed to deal with significant winter snow to turn into a city resident with a city nor well prepared to deal any snow, let alone far smaller amounts of snow. I Think I still have my snowshoes down in the basement, but one needs a significant amount of snow for them to be of any use. I’m prepared, but fat lot of good it does!