Snow day!

      Perhaps I should use the excuse of reaction to my second COVID shot for staying inside. The truth is I have no reaction. Today I treated as a 'snow day'.  Snow days weren't very frequent in my childhood but they were much loved. My tree planting forbearers, grandfather and father, had planted several rows of trees south, west and north of our farm house so even in the worst blizzards our yard was an oasis of calm. Weather had to be frightful before school was cancelled in our little, one room, schoolhouse but when they were it was bonus vacation. The winter of 48-49 was particularly snowy. There were places that winter where the snow had drifted so deep that we could step over the telephone wires. The National Guard was used to open roads with their bulldozers. 

      When snow and wind was predicted for today I opted to mostly stay inside and Kaia had no choice. The wind came, 20 mph, but the snow turned out to be sleet. The north windows of The Little House are opaque now, plastered with ice. Quite a contrast to yesterday when the temperature reached 66!

      Reflecting on 'snow days' brought one of my recent teaching trips to Thailand to mind. Bangkok declared 'smog days,' and closed their schools for a few days becasue of air pollution. Smog isn't much of an issue in Sinai.  

      Last year, when I was in Asia, a cold developed into bronchitis. Medical help in Bangkok cured me just before I returned home. That was the last time I was sick. It has been a year without a cold, flu or any other illnesses. Isolation has its benefits.

      Takk for alt,

       Al

      The one room school house as it looks today. 8 years of education in that building.