Karen and I hosted visitors from Portland, Oregon: Alicia, April, Katelyn, Michael, and Sean. We also had local visitors Debbie, Jordan, Jaylin, Chloe, and others from April’s family from Corning.
Karen and I were not working on our part-time jobs, and we greatly enjoyed 15 days straight of unpaid vacation. Such is the life of us semi-retired Americanos living in Northern California.
We feasted on a wide variety of meats, grains, and vegetables. Many special pastries and candies were made by adults and children. We talked. We watched HD-TV and HD-DVDs. We toasted and drank the fruits of the earth. A few went outside to smoke. A few walked outdoors or sat by the fireplace in the “Serenity Circle.”
We enjoyed drives to Willows, Redding, Corning, and around the Tehama County countryside.
We talked about the weather, which was generally very cool 45-60 degrees F. Snow in the Ashland - Siskiyou Pass is a concern of all Interstate 5 drivers during this time of the year. Karen and I have driven through snow from Ashland to Redding - a challenge with some dangers. When I5 is cleared and the weather is clear - the snow on the Cascades-Siskiyous is a sight to behold. Getting past Mt. Shasta is a third of the trip from Red Bluff to Portland.
“One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”
- Wallace Stevens, Snow Man
December: Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Links, Lore, Garden Chores
