New Year

The days before Christmas were amazing here in Seattle. It snowed and snowed, and nobody could drive anywhere without chains because there were no snowplows or salt. The ice packed onto the streets and we came to a halt. I spent an isolated Sunday strolling around my neighborhood, and everybody else seemed to be doing the same thing. Steep Queen Anne Avenue was blocked off and people were skiing and sledding down on whatever was handy- cardboard boxes and cookie sheets. I saw a discarded can of Pam cooking spray on the side of the road. The rest of us watched and smiled and chatted with one another. People were so friendly that day! It was truly remarkable- like a different city entirely. I remember the sound of laughter and delight and the foghorn filling up the snow-white harbor.

...But the new year reveals the same bleak old landscape and here we are, scowling past eachother in the streets once more. So it's just as well that my Seattle sojourn will come to an end in February! I will be returning to the land of ice and frost, to re accustom my lungs to the alpine air for spell and leave this alien place without rancor or regret.