Listening to Maria Callas sing the famous aria 'alone, lost and abandoned' from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, I realize that this was exactly how I felt last night during this icy winter storm. Outside, everything was encased in a sheet of ice; the neighbors were holed up (just as I was), and the tall pines are still leaning ever more ponderously over the house, bent to the breaking point under their icy mantles.
If
it weren’t for my two furry buddies, Pasha and Lilliput, I’d be packing my bags
and driving south; Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica; any place free from the wrath of
ice and sleet. Wait! I can’t even get out of my frozen-shut garage door.
Bummer!
How
could I have so miscalculated my research on Arkansas. To me, this was The
South: languid, balmy, full of hospitable people with sweet tea, mint juleps
and a stronger accent than I have (so they say—of course, I don’t believe it).
Don’t
be too harsh with my rash decision to flee the crowds of Southern California. As
I said, I had done my research and other than falling in love with a huge Palladian
window that made me buy this house sight-unseen, all those wooded hills and
lakes looked good to me (the price was right, too). The annual Arkansas average
temperature was touted as being 65 Fahrenheit. The thing I hadn’t realized was
that this mild “average” temperature was derived from 103° in the summer and
some minus 20s during these infamous ice storms. Duh!
“I
can do that,” I gloated to my West Coast city friends who repeatedly asked me,
‘Haven’t you seen Deliverance!’ (Poor Arkansas. It does have an undeserved “mountain-folksy”
reputation.)
But
today, ‘the morning after,’ the sun is out and everything is looking up; albeit
the temps are still way below the freezing point. The birds are pecking away at
their sunflower seed – and there come the squirrels. Funny how the jungle drums
work around here.
So
far, we have not lost power, and I dragged in lots of wood and have kept the
fireplace going all night. Alas, tonight is another night...(lousy
paraphrasing, I admit) – and another bout of freezing rain is predicted.
I was just having a little moan. I feel much better now ...
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