"Yes," I replied, "last year."
"We had this much last year?"
"We have this much every year. Every year you say we've never had as much."
"I don't remember having this much before."
"You say that every year, too."
We have that conversation every March.
We had another bona fide blizzard. Everyone freaked out; flights and schools were cancelled. You’d think this wasn’t Minnesota, and that blizzards in March were something we were unfamiliar with.
Last Friday, my Dad had a dizzy spell in the morning. At almost 91, he doesn’t take any of this stuff lightly, so he called his doctor. Long story short: he spent the night in the hospital, so his doctors could tell him he was fine. Upon being told that all was well, Mom somehow managed to invite the whole family to her house for corned beef sandwiches so she wasn’t terribly happy that it took them ten hours to discharge Dad.
She told the hospital personnel to snap up the pace, she was throwing a party. She’s been dealing with hospital emergencies for a long time; she has figured out what works for them.
Margy was in town again for the weekend and her plan was to fly out Monday evening but by then, the rain that had been coming down all morning had turned to snow and everything was cancelled, due to the ice.
Yes, this is Minnesota and we DO know how to handle freezing snow: we stay home!
It really is the best way. Temperatures plunged just in time to turn the morning rain to a sheet of ice beneath the blowing snow just in time for rush hour. It was bad enough without adding a thousand school buses to the mix.
It snowed pretty hard on and off for two days. Jay plowed the driveway three times. We were supposed to get 8-10” and we got more than 5” but its hard to say just how much, since the wind whipped it into uneven drifts and the temps went up almost as soon as it stopped falling. I haven’t gone out to clear the roof yet. I may find that the sun has done my job for me.
March is traditionally the snowiest month on record here and the a blizzard during the State Tournaments is practically expected. But the sun is too high in the sky to keep the ice frozen on the rinks, so they’re done for the winter, even if the temps stay low. Two weeks ago, the rinks were plowed first thing in the morning but this time, they just left them. As I said; they’re done.
March will be a time for me to slow down and catch my breath. Orders are usually slow for us at this time of the year and all the classes I was in are taking a break for the month since so many people will be gone for a chunk of time. Including me! I’ll be heading west for a few days later on but I don’t even want to think about that now. I’ve got too much to do.
I’m in the process of reorganizing my work space. With the addition of what was the girl’s bedroom, I can not only add space for my stand up easel and set ups, I can open up the space I use for designing. I’m on the lookout for a table for my sewing machine, too. I’d love to have that set up permanently, which is the only way I’ll take the time to learn to use it. I could be a one woman needlepoint factory if I can only figure out how to sew. I’d never try anything as complicated as a Christmas stocking but I’m pretty sure I can do my own ornaments. My ambition reaches as far as a simple purse but that’s really it. I’ve got a few other irons that I’ve left smoldering in the fire for too long…I should really get at them.
One of life’s many ironies is that when you reach the age where you have the time to work on your own stuff, you no longer have the energy.
Speaking of energy, BoopityBoop spent Sunday afternoon here with me. They were a riot, as usual. Between the two of them, nary a cross eye nor sniffle was heard, it was just happy playing all day long. I didn’t confine them to the living room this time, we wandered all over the down stairs. They never stray too far from each other, so it’s not as hard as it could be. I’ve put my cowhide on the floor of the little bedroom. It’s a much cooler and more attractive rug than the industrial thing Jay put there a few years ago. Boop payed no attention to it on her trek to the toybox but Boopity stopped dead at the edge, not at all sure she liked the feel of hair beneath her hands. After a thorough examination, Boopity decided it was okay and joined her sister at the toybox, where they spent a good ten minutes throwing whatever they could reach out onto the floor.
Boop has taken her first steps! She is very giddy about it but doesn’t seem committed to the idea yet. Boopity gets mad at the very suggestion that two feet could be preferable to all fours. Both are intent on climbing everything they come across.
The Oscars were Sunday night and for the forty first year in a row, I didn’t watch. That’s right, I haven’t made time for the stupid awards since the year they dissed Star Wars. Okay, I may have peaked in a moment or two back in ’96 when Braveheart won everything and I might have paid a bit of attention in ’04, when The Return of the King set records but I didn’t watch either show.
That’s the last time I actually cared about a movie that was nominated and that was 14 years ago. Fourteen years!
Back in ‘05, my sister Katie and I actually made an effort to see all five movies nominated for Best Picture. We saw two of them before throwing in the towel, as they were both a boring, stupid waste of our time and money. Now, I hear the Academy nominated ten movies for best pic. There weren’t ten movies I wanted to see last year, much less ten that I thought were award worthy and I’m pretty sure the ones I actually did see and enjoy weren’t nominated, unless there’s a new ‘superhero’ category I’m unaware of.
I saw two movies last year that I’d consider buying on DVD and I didn’t see one of them until this year, so there.
I did see the Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s latest, which won Best Picture.
It was awful. Calling it ‘Grinding Nemo’ makes it sound far more entertaining than it actually was.
Meanwhile, The Greatest Showman, the most fun I’ve had at a movie since Mama Mia!, was ignored. I wanted to leap to my feet and cheer after every musical number!
Funny; the music for TGS was by the same folks who gave us La La Land last year.
La La Land was a critically acclaimed musical whose two leads could neither sing nor dance. The story was boring and pointless, the music instantly forgettable. It could actually be used as an argument for why Hollywood can’t make musicals anymore.
La La Land won the Oscar for Best Picture (for about four seconds). ·
The Greatest Showman, which is a magnificent spectacle of fun, with every song a singable anthem, starring people who not only CAN sing and dance but do so on trapeze without a net, wasn’t nominated.
Naturally, the critics hated The Greatest Showman, probably because the biggest dink in the movie is a theater critic. Hey, guys: not everything is about you!
Oh, and then there’s the fun of being lectured to about sexual harassment by the very people whose product has been attacking sexual morals for fifty years.
And the Best Picture Award went to a movie in which a woman bones a fish.
No wonder these people are so confused.