DRIP
DRIP
When I wrote To Pap with Love I had trouble printing Chapter Four. I didn’t like to rely on the copy on my computer or on the external disk. Every time I made a change, which was often, I printed out a new copy and the printer stopped. I tried to change the words, we were celebrating my granddaughter’s first communion — it didn’t matter. Every change I made, trying to solve the problem, didn’t help. The printer still stopped at the party. After many months the printer finally printed ALL of Chapter Four without stopping when I realized that it wasn’t the words, it was the gift of a beautiful day.
Last weekend would have been my father’s one hundred and fourth birthday. Our youngest daughter planned to drive to Chicago with her children to celebrate her daughter’s fifth birthday while her husband was out of town. We have not had a snow free Saturday in six weeks. I was concerned — they live one hundred and fifty miles south of Chicago. The main road for traveling is often snow covered and icy. The wind whips across the farmland and the road. To say I watched the weather reports with a microscope would not be exaggerating. Thankfully the forecasted snow was light. They were able to come into the city safely and return home safely.
While they were in town we visited the Swedish museum. My daughter is writing a book in which one of the characters is Swedish. She wanted to get a bit of background. My father was a full blooded Swede. I’m a mongrel — a bit of this, a bit of that. I didn’t know that the third floor held a children’s museum which has won an award. Sadly my camera stayed on a shelf at home. I will have to trust my memory and the snippet that I’m writing in this ramble. I wished I had known about the museum when we were watching our grandson when his mother taught at a school. The kids had a marvelous time catching fish off of a bridge, rowing a boat, planting in the garden and investigating a log cabin. They tried to carry milk containers on the shoulder carrier, fed the wood burning stove and in general experienced a little bit of life in Sweden which gave their mother time to do research.
This winter is breaking all records for cold and snow. We have already had 68 inches of snow. Normal is less than 30. Another polar vortex has descended. Zero temperature has returned. More snow is forecast for this weekend 4 – 8 inches as a matter of fact. I was just outside cleaning up our yard. I had watched Robin, all 25 pounds, climb to the top of our four foot snow mountain and stand looking around. I was amazed when the frozen mountain supported my weight, which is a lot more than 25 pounds.
Down in the basement washing clothes, a bit upset about the frigid week — I remarked to the dust and cob webs, “You’d better snap out of this!” At the bottom of the wash tub, a dime waited for me. This morning, the sink in the kitchen WOULD NOT stop dripping. It didn’t matter what I did. I finally remembered to look at the pan in the basement catching the overflow for the furnace. It was more than half full. The sink in the kitchen is still dripping, but only one or two drops — not the flow of the morning.
Robin, while not depressed, is missing the kids. A car like my daughter’s was in front of the house and Robin was whimpering. So she found a few children’s toys to chew on.
Wandering With Spirit 