Thoughts on a Snowy Day

The snow has stopped. The sun is out. The sky is blue. The roads are blocked and the power is still out. I’ve taken refuge in my grandparent’s house, where they have power and hot water and heat. Despite all this, I will not revise my statement from yesterday’s post: I love snowy days. Unconditionally.

The power went out at our house sometime between 11 and 11:30 yesterday morning and continues to be out – the longest power outage we’ve had since moving to Maine. We’ve actually had to get our generator out for the first time.

I thought I’d copy of few thoughts I wrote down in my journal yesterday:

Even though the power is out and there are so many things we can’t do because of it, I still enjoy days like these. They’re perfect excuses for remaining safe and snug indoors. I played board games with my mom and brother, which we rarely ever do because we’re all too absorbed in our electric devices to interact with each other. We played a game of Settlers of Catan, which is one of our favorite games, but we rarely play it because it’s very time consuming. But none of us had anything to do today, or if we did we had no means of getting it done.

As the sun set – which was very early as today is the first day off daylight savings – we lit candles and lanterns and searched out our headlamps.

Stuart and I have been playing Othello by candlelight for the past hour. I love the feeling I get when I play Othello. It has nothing to do with the game itself, but rather with it’s age. It has the feel of an ancient game, so simple and strategic. I can’t help but think of fur-swathed men and women sitting in a fire-lit cave moving black and white stones across the floor. Each time I flip a stone, I can’t help but feel a tingle up and down my spine, as though history is reaching out thorugh me to move the piece. Or maybe it’s cosmic memory, as though the combined skill and experience of all my past lives are being put towards the placing of each piece. Anyway, Othello brings me this wonderful feeling of connection and belonging. It’s a great game.

I slept in the living room last night. My bedroom is the coldest room in the house even when the heaters are working. I slept in front of the fireplace, waking every hour or so to add a log to the fire. Not a great night’s sleep, but I kept the house warm. I can’t help but feel proud for keep the flames going all through the night, though now my eyes sting from lack of sleep and my wits are slow, sluggish. The pause of the storm is over and now there are so many things that must be done.

Thank you for reading.

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