Furnace is on, coffee made, and yesterday Marcia joined the throngs at the grocery store. Armageddon is here; according to the TV weather folk.

We’re told that we’re about to (snow actually started in the middle of the night) experience the largest snowfall since 2015. OK, at most it’ll be 6”, but for us it means –standstill. Standstill of everything.

So, Friday morning Marcia went off to Kroger’s. “I only need a few items and I want to get there before the crowds do”, were her cheery remarks. Upon her return the first I heard is that there was not a grocery cart to be found. You can guess the rest. By description I believe that she had been teleported to some ‘Mercado’ in mid-Caracas, Venezuela – complete with stripped bare shelves.

Our first bit of winter. We’ve had rains and a cold blast, but each time the skies turned blue, the sun came out, and temperatures popped. This time, apparently, the snow’s white death is for real. For example, there will be many a first attempt at driving in snow:

”Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ~ George Carlin

Motorbikes – Last weekend it was still glorious, why, the corner of Chaos and Mayhem experienced any number of high-speed motorcyclists careening through. Most of them riding a type I refer to as ‘crotch-rockets’ (sans mufflers).

It was Marcia who said, “There’s an older guy and police talking and a motorbike sitting on the sidewalk.” Fast forward, I went out to take ‘pulse’ of the situation. Getting closer a voice rang out, “Dirk!”

Turns out that my old neighbor, dean of one of the nearby University schools, took his bike out for an afternoon ride. On our corner he slipped, his clutch handle broke, and the machine was stuck in gear. It is a big new Triumph so blame the Brits.

Anyway, we had a lovely visit waiting for AAA. His wife swung by, and so it was that on the corner of ‘C’ and ‘M’ we stood in a circle with hugs all around (the police had left by then); I love our neighborhood. By the way, he never fell off his bike and was quite OK.

I never knew the intricate procedure and jigs used to place a motorbike on the bed of a tow truck; very impressive.

Memories – are what’s left of the holidays. Much of the time we had 14 of us in our little condo. And it was grand! Now and then I catch Marcia walking about counting out the amount of food we went through, how many times we refilled the drink cooler, bottles of wine emptied, and games played.

I placed two small video clips taken by Kirstin, and they’ll give an idea – now that I’ve placed them in YouTube.

The bowling one is of Derek. We all played and yours truly jumped into the lead. However, my ‘geezer’ years caught up with me and I started to falter. It was Derek who kept on creeping up and when one finishes with two strikes in a row. Wow, it was impressive, and as you can guess, Derek won.

The second is of Dinah, Kellen Marin, and Derek doing what cousins do best – have a blast. This was taken at our Natural History Museum.

Meals – have taken on a new turn at Dirk and Marcia’s. Brother Art gave me a New York Times Food subscription. They have suggestions, a weekly presentation, a permanent ‘recipe’ box; all from their 18,000 recipe collection

I had begun to take note that at mealtimes Marcia had been mumbling; I did catch the word “rut” a few times. So a deal was struck, every few days I’ll prepare dinner from my Christmas gift collection. And, assuming that I don’t demolish the kitchen, Marcia is OK with the plan. So far so excellent.

First meal scored 10 out of 10. Cleanup scored a respectable 8. Send me a SASE and I’ll send out the recipe (the SASE dates me, an email will do).

Insulin – With all the negativity and self-serving interests going about these days,  I thought I’d pass along something a bit more upbeat especially since the results have played such an important part. Yesterday January 12, in 1922: Insulin was first used on humans to treat diabetes, on a Leonard Thompson, aged 14, of Canada.

It was discovered by Sir Frederick G Banting (pictured on right), Charles H Best and JJR Macleod at the University of Toronto and subsequently purified by James B Collip.

Finis – My plan is that tomorrow I’ll take the bus into town to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. There our Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence, Jonathan Bailey Holland, will put on a one-hour concert with the CSO and the Nouveau Chamber Players. I’ve put out the word, but so far am the only one committed – still looking for any interested parties.

I did manage to sign up for our hockey team sponsored 5K & 10K on February 2nd. Lots of people way overdressed ‘hoofing’ it around the riverfront. Last time it was great and I am looking forward to this one.

Make it a great week.

Ciao
Dirk