Dear Kathleen

                                   It is fitting after a fitful
                                   few hours
                                   to wake to a crow’s caw
                                   through a slightly open window.

                                   Wet snow muffles everything else.

                                   Goose down keeps me
                                   but cold air
                                   heedless and unknowing greets my exposed foot.
                                   The tang of warm
                                   grapey alcohol—
                                   undrunk wineglass on the nightstand—
                                   you, an odd comfort.

                                   Everything I see
                                   I haven’t seen
                                   since I heard you died.
                                   I’m so sorry.
                                           
                                   Now you know too.
                                                            --lgw

Hokie Snow

Thing One was getting lots of snow in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech the same time we were having our big snow bonanza this past weekend so I asked him to send some snow pictures.  He first sent me this one (from his dorm room window) which I told him was about as lame as it comes and that I certainly hope he's putting more effort into school than he is in taking snow pictures for his mother's blog:

Gee thanks Thing One

So then he sent me these pic's ......good job honey!  You're redeemed!!  Thank-you. 

Thing One focused most of these pictures on the central feature of the campus which is the Virginia Tech drillfield.  It's at the heart of the campus; one could easily argue it is the heart of Virginia Tech landscapically (ok so that's not an actual word, but it should be) speaking.  And no offense to Thing One but pictures really don't do the drillfield justice.  It's huge; it's the most spectacular gathering point; it's fringed with one hundred year-old trees (maybe older, just guessing?); it has classroom buildings on one side and dormitories on the other (all built in famous Hokie Stone); at one end of the drillfield is the Virginia Tech War Memorial and the other end is open to the rest of the campus.  It is beloved by the students and apparently at least one parent because until this very moment I had no idea how much I [heart] that drillfield.  Suffice to say it's practically profound!

Get it?  Red Bull gives you wings ....cute

Poetry Girl On The Last Day Of January

January

          Again I reply to the triple winds
          running chromatic fifths of derision
          outside my window:
                                          Play louder.
          You will not succeed.  I am
          bound more to my sentences
          the more you batter at me
          to follow you.
                               And the wind,
          as before, fingers perfectly
          its derisive music.
                               --William Carlos Williams

Winter Scene

          There is not a single
          leaf on the cherry tree:

          except when the jay
          plummets in, lights, and,

          in pure clarity, squalls:
          then every branch

          quivers and
          breaks out in blue leaves.
                               --A. R. Ammons

Snow Post Script

Ok well we only got 8" of snow .......but still ........that's 8" more than we usually get!  It's so beautiful.  I have no idea what you people who get snow all the time are complaining about. 

Joking!!! 

Cool, I can hear "crunching" on the street below as a car is going by .......you all know the view off my left shoulder as I sit here typing early on a Sunday morning (see last pic in Snow!!!! post)

More Winter posts to come ....

SNOW!!!!

If you can't tell already, here in the southeast corner--on the coast--of Virginia, we don't get snow very often!  Nobody does on any coast.  I can attest to that growing up as a navy-brat (one more thing I've never talked about on this blog ...but I shall).  So for those of you who have had snow this winter as one "would take a sip of water from a fire hose" (weird analogy but you get it), skip this post!  Cuz we're excited!!  Today. 

Tomorrow when I run out of orange juice may be another story ...

The forecast is calling for anywhere between 6" to 12" (OMG one foot!).  So I'm going to post snow progression pictures at three-ish hour intervals.  Ok so I know I'm not the best photographer (one of my bloggy goals this year--learn to be best photographer) but the idea is to watch the accumulation!

This first set was taken an hour ago in my PJ's with slippers-with-hole on (see pic) so they're a little boring cuz I'm standing inside taking pictures of the outside.  Plus I wanted to get the pristine look (aka the un-messed-up-before-teenage-son-got-out-there-and-mangled-it-all-up look) (that has now happened btw so future pic's will have mangled look) (I'm gonna get snow boots on myself though and take pictures of un-mangled snow as I walk around!) (on second thought, just heard cold gust of sleety snow hit the window I'm sitting next to--perhaps will have some hot chocolate instead?)

from the front door

3 hours later

next morning

you guessed it! the back

3 hours later

next morning

OMG!  Thing One are you reading this????  We should go out and play SpecTrek IN THE SNOW!!

Ok readers, a review:  Thing Two is a sophomore in high school and is (obviously) home with me (although currently outside flinging snow balls at friends).  Thing One is a freshman at Virginia Tech which is in Blacksburg, Virginia--a very long six-hour drive due west almost into West Virginia & Kentucky nestled in between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains.  Blacksburg is currently at 13 degrees with about a foot of snow already.  We're at 25 degrees. 

SpecTrek is this ghost-catching App Thing One & I downloaded onto our DROIDS--it uses GPS to pinpoint your location and it makes up ghosts and places them outside, wherever you may be, within a three-mile radius.  This App is a combination of pure recreation and getting-some-exercise because you have to, kinda, literally, run after these ghosts (they move).  The point is to get close enough to take a picture of the ghosts which equals "catching" them.  Once you catch all the ghosts you win!  Fun!  So in the snow?  FUNNER!!!  

(Although you look like a nut running around with your phone taking pictures of nothing ....so Thing One may not be willing to do that in front of his college-buds .....except he's studying engineering and lives in a dorm where all the residents are studying engineering .....and no offense Thing One but you guys are all pretty d-o-r-k-y ....probably every single one of you has been running around after fake-ghosts all morning while the other college students are still sleeping off hangovers .......good for you Thing One!) (Don't correct me if I'm wrong about this)

Check back for snow-picture updates.  Hey Thing One, send me some snow pic's from Blacksburg and I'll post them! 

Yikes.  What's coming from the other side of the window sounds mean.  Hot chocolate here I come!