Is this Colorado?

No. It's Iowa.

Funny how I never x-country skied in Colorado. I loved snowshoeing, but never did I try skiing. Today was my first time out on x-country skis. I sustained only two major falls and one collision with another person. Not bad I suppose for my first time out.

X-country skiing is a great solution to cabin fever. It felt so good to get out and MOVE.




As a child I always thought snow covered hay bales looked like frosted mini-wheat cereal. (Not that we ever ate frosted mini-wheat cereal because it had so much sugar in it)

Ahhhh..............!!!!!!!


Thin skis, nothing like downhill that I'm used to.

Silent Comedy

I don't think I've laughed so wholesomely or heartily in quite awhile. Last night, with little expectation, a bit of adventure and some mapquest directions, a friend and I set out to find a silent film festival, located at a historical park that was advertised online. I wasn't sure how popular such event would be on a cold night and almost didn't want to go for fear of being the only one to show up.

We showed up late, but were animatedly welcomed into the warm lodge-like room. The blue glow of the screen and the perky piano music let us know we were in the right place. The evening's impresario joyfully invited us to have a seat among the twenty or so others in attendance. The festive spirit of the room seeped into my bones and melted away any insecurities I had about attending the festival in the first place.

The audience, including myself, was uninhibited and liberal with laughter. Everything from a simple chortle while watching proper women with big floppy hats run and fall into mud puddles, to outright guffaws at Laurel and Hardy plots. If I wasn't chuckling, I was certainly smiling the entire time.

Children bounced around, snarfed complementary popcorn, drank hot chocolate. The entire atmosphere was one of sheer enjoyment. There were very few words that got in the way of the experience, the only sounds heard were gleeful children, an occasional spontaneous audience narration or observation- and that perky piano music plunking in the background. It is amazing how much fun one can have even when very few words are spoken.

Letting Winter Do Its Thing

There are two disparate populations in Iowa; those who embrace winter and those who curse it. I choose to let the drifts ensconce my car, I warm my spirits with tea and my core with long underwear. Perhaps, if I were a parent in Iowa City, I might feel different about the weather we've been having. This is now the third day students were directed to stay home due to the below freezing temperatures.

Although parts of Iowa have experienced record breaking low temperatures in the last few days, I do not get too excited about the extreme temperatures, after all, there is at least one state north of here and entire country North of that. The temperatures we experience might be very cold for us, but there are others for whom this is just normal. They probably go to school despite the subfreezing weather. I'll have to ask my friend from northern Minnesota about my conjecture.

It is beautiful though. I haven't seen snow this memorable since New Jersey. The surface snow sparkled like diamonds, splitting the light into emeralds, rubies and sapphires. The snow here, too, is colorful. Tiny crystals flutter through the sunny air. It is not snowing, but snowflakes fly around like eagles in thermals. They catch a breeze and just hang on for a ride. It looks like a child's glittered art project. How can one possibly curse that?

Alarm

You know the night when your smoke detector starts to beep at 2 A.M. to remind you it needs new batteries? That was last night for me.

Well

I've been hesitant to write this posting for fear of jinxing myself. But, ever since I've moved here, I've been WELL. Usually by this time in the academic year I am fighting off my second or third cold. But (knock on wood) I haven't gotten sick this year. This fortune of good health is attributed to a few factors. First, and obviously, I'm not exposed to hundreds of students and their germs on a daily basis. Second, I am not as stressed out as I was when I taught. Third, for the most part, I'm cooking and eating better. Fourth, I'm taking daily fish oil and multivitamins. Fifth, I'm exercising more than I used to. It feels good to be WELL.

The River

A catfish. When people ask why I came to Iowa I sometimes reply, "A catfish." Sure, there are more substantive reasons why I moved, but I did come because of a catfish. Last Spring, when I visited, the river had already pushed its boundaries and overflowed the banks. I walked along the swollen river watching bubbles cruise downstream, it had been too long since I just sat and watched water move. The still shoreline began to reveal ripples and then I watched as an enormous catfish winnowed on the submerged grass. It didn't swim, but just calmly splashed around and that was when I noticed myself tearing up. Crazy, I know. But it was a beautiful sight. I forgot how much I enjoyed just watching nature.

Not since living near the Kansas prairie had I sat still and took in the sight of nature happening in my own community. Ok, there was the owl in Denver that stopped me in my tracks. And the foxes at school that made me pray for their suburban survival and ask forgiveness for "developing" in their habitat. I know this seems a little ironic that I moved to Iowa for the nature, after all, I lived in Denver, with the Rocky Mountains in my backyard. But it seemed I could never get comfortable in Colorado to just watch nature in or around my community. So when I saw the catfish in the river, it came back to me, like riding a bike, I remembered what it was like to just watch nature happen.

Today, I drifted along the path that parallels the river on my walk home. I watched the mini icebergs float downstream melt into whitecaps in the waves under the bridge. The mallards are beautiful. The females' browns are so defined, as if you can see each feather. The males' blues and greens flirt with your eye. Overhead, a bald eagle circled the waters and did a flyover my head before it landed on the perfect tree branch across the river. Each stroke of its wings was confident, purposeful. It is as if eagles fly with destination in mind.

Scraping Ice

One half hour it took to chisel my car from the ice. About four inches of ice accumulated on parts of my windshield over the past days. This is not an exaggeration, nor is this a complaint, just the honest to God truth. Simply a statement of fact. Coldness slows everything; honey, traffic, molecular motion. I think winter slows us to pace at which we were meant to live. I calibrates or internal clocks and reminds us, somethings just take time.