Our small Pacific Northwest city of Bellingham, WA, doesn’t usually get much snow, but here’s how we deal with the deep freeze hitting the West.
NOTE: The web host problems at my publishing group www.bookviewcafe.com have been resolved, hurrah! So I’m caught up with my Greece trip posts on that site, to sync with my posts here. Next week, look for more about the fabulous island of Rhodes!
Thor and I are starting to think we are “weather Jonahs” (watch the fabulous film “Master and Commander” if you don’t know about the sailors considered bad luck in the wooden ship days). On our last few trips to escape Northwest gray rain and enjoy used-to-be-predictable tropic weather and snorkeling, we’ve instead arrived to cool weather, wind, and rain. Not to mention a first-ever storm of its type in the Aegean Sea, Cyclone Zorba. This month, we returned home from a cool, rainy trip to Maui just in time for a blizzard flowing down out of the Arctic and turning our streets white and icy.
Like the colorful Tyrannosaurus skiing past, I was longing to break out my cross-country skis and tour the neighborhood on the perfect snow — a rare treat in the lowlands. But because of my still-unhealed hip injury, I listened to the voice of wisdom (Thor) and instead stayed inside with our bored critters Bear dog and Turtle and Tucker cats.
We leave our “winter cheer” lights up during the dark months, and they did look lovely in the snowy night.
Thor has two hummingbird feeders that he alternated as they froze in turns, and the little flyers were very appreciative. Outside my writing-office window, fluffed-up robins, lacking worm access, gobbled the red berries on the barberry bush.
Finally, we had to get out for some walks with Bear dog through nearby Cornwall Park. On one, we met neighbor Brenda, who was Bear dog’s foster auntie when he was rescued and brought to Bellingham. Brenda brought along Bear’s girlfriend Abbe.
Our outdoor jetted tub had sprung a leak while we were gone, but my handyman extraordinaire Thor fixed it! So lovely to have an evening soak among the snowy trees.
Successive waves of freezing wind and more snow were really piling it on in our yard and the creek ravine.
The roads, with compact snow and ice, were quite hazardous, and we were saddened to hear about three deaths in separate house fires where the fire crews had difficulty accessing and controlling the fires. Then, as the snow started melting, Bellingham lost an iconic, historic building to fire: Hohl’s Feed and Seed, where I had gone since childhood to enjoy the pet collection of birds, rodents, rabbits, fish, and reptiles. Our amazing fire crew couldn’t save the old building, but did manage to rescue 78 animals!
Thor and I finally ventured out for some short, snowy hikes along the Lake Whatcom Trail and down to our nearby Squalicum Beach. The sun was out and the snow finally melting, so we took along our beach chairs. Said Thor, “Who needs Maui, when we have our North End beach?”
But there are some who would prefer to stay cozy inside and wait for spring!
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection. It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara is returning for another research trip in Greece and as she works on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
I like the anatomically correct snow man!
Of course.