Well, it’s unbelievable how the time has flown. Here we are halfway through February. At the end of this week, on February 20th, the Corner Brook Winter Carnival begins. If the weather obliges, there is a torchlight parade and fireworks at the Marble Mountain Ski Lodge, a walk from the mill along the stream to the park, church dinners, breakfasts, dances, sports competitions - everything.
Humber United does a cabbage roll dinner. This year we printed 260 tickets - more than last year - and as of February 13th, we are sold out. This week, Yrs. Truly has to go out and buy a roasting pan, and look around for good cabbages. I am doing mine Ukrainian style, with sour cream and dill on the side. Leif the Lucky, Corner Brook’s very own winter Viking, makes an appearance at our cabbage roll dinner - so be forewarned, I intend to get a photo with Leif.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, and was a great lift to the spirits. Today wasn’t. There was snow and blowing snow. Many churches were cancelled - but Humber soldiered on, with a tiny crowd of about 35 stalwarts. Yrs. Truly had managed to leave her robe at the funeral home on Friday, and there was no way to get up that particular hill this morning - so the choir didn’t robe either. It was a less formal service, and several people said they thought it was nice without the robe.
It’s worth pondering. There are those people who insist on the stiff formalities, yet I suspect there are more than a few who don’t. We need to be able to relax into our church a little more, and recognise what we are really there for....and it isn’t how we look. I know the arguments for and against - I am just not sure they are relevant. The choir consistently comments that it’s so hot in the choir loft they don’t like the robes.
In any event, it was fun. The small congregation willingly moved a little closer to the front. Today’s text was from the Sermon on the Mount - the section dealing with the commandments, including divorce. I knew there were people in the congregation who are divorced - and hoped that they would see why the text is the way it is. *Context* is critical - and indeed, those people did see that Jesus was in fact talking about *men* divorcing, in *his* culture.
I have a confession to make. I am getting a shade weary of the snow. Not the snow so much as the SNOWING. It just never seems to end. This afternoon the highways were closed - there wasn’t so much snow falling, as snow blowing all over creation - whiteouts everywhere. The snow I could deal with, if the sky would just clear off and give us three or four days of sunshine. Today I had to shovel the car out of the drive, and then shovel to get it back in again. It’s just a little on the tiring side - especially when I’ve had to do other things as well.
...and yet, I know I was called here, for plenty of good reasons. Some of them are becoming clear, some not yet - but it was the right move to make at the right time - and even living through the kind of weather people in Newfoundland deal with all the time makes me appreciate everything so much more. We just really know so little about the daily life of people in other parts of this country.
I didn’t mention my front door. Went out this morning, and everything was fine. Came home in the afternoon, got the door open, and couldn’t close it. Checked for ice, didn’t see any. Finally, after a mighty slam, it closed. Then it wouldn’t open from inside. Called landlord, who came up and fixed it. Found leak in basement - which turned out to be faulty hose on washing machine. Hasn’t leaked til now.....fortunately under warranty.
Well, Monday offered a promise of some better weather. Growing up on the prairies, in a part of the world where extreme cold and snow were considered normal nine months of the year, the meteorological phenomenon “sun dogs”, or “parhelia” was pretty well known. For those who might not know, I am talking about a time which predates weather predictions via television and computer. Then, the sky was often the best indication of things to come. Yrs. Truly learned early on that in a really bad blizzard, the sky turns a kind of pinkish purple colour at night; that snow can be smelled coming even when the sky is blue; that fluffy small “sheep’s wool” clouds mean rain on the way. Sun dogs generally mean a change of weather, and not necessarily good weather either.....
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/dogfm.htm
...and here’s another piece of information....quite funny.
“While mostly known and often quoted for being the oldest colour depiction of the city of Stockholm, Vädersolstavlan (Swedish; "The Sundog Painting", literally "The Weather Sun Painting") is arguably also one of the oldest known depictions of a sun dog. For two hours in the morning of April 20, 1535, the skies over the city were filled with white circles and arcs crossing the sky, while additional suns appeared around the sun. The phenomenon quickly resulted in rumours of an omen of God's forthcoming revenge on King Gustav Vasa (1496–1560) for having introduced Protestantism during the 1520s and for being heavy-handed with his enemies allied with the Danish king.
Hoping to end speculations, the Chancellor and Lutheran scholar Olaus Petri (1493–1552) ordered a painting to be produced documenting the event. When confronted with the painting, the king, however, interpreted it as a conspiracy - the real sun of course being himself threatened by competing fake suns, one being Olaus Petri and the other the clergyman and scholar Laurentius Andreae (1470–1552), both thus accused of treachery, but eventually escaping capital punishment. The original painting is lost, but a copy from the 1630s survives and still can be seen in the church Storkyrkan in central Stockholm.” This link shows the painting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog
Yes, so this morning we had sun dogs - and the weather prediction is for a major winter storm coming across the region tonight, with snowfall of up to 25 centimetres. Wow! Like we really need more snow!!!
During the night and again this morning, the snow shovellers had been - and so off I went to the garage, without having to shovel through the ......Oh dear, I hear the plow out there again now ...sigh. While the car was in the garage, the secretary and I went to the office for three hours, and then she dropped me off on the way back down the hill. Diagnosis of car - enormous buildup of ice, snow, sand and crud impeding the wheels - hence the “wobble”. Plus the buildup of ice on the underside was blocking the rear evaporating assembly...which caused the engine to think there was a malfunction and the service engine light to come on. So they hosed all the stuff off the car, and everything was fine. The bill??? $81.93. Then drive 15 whole minutes through more snow, sand, and stuff, to the Home Hardware, where apparently they have snow scoops on sale. They do. So now there is a scoop ready beside the door, plus a new hose for the washing machine.... ....and of course, an Oster hand-held blender, with a measuring cup attachment AND a chopper attachment. On sale. How could one pass it up? I love Home Hardware.
The service engine light??? On again....must be more snow and stuff. Not going to worry.
So I have spent the rest of this Monday doing odds and ends around the house. Dinner was a nice big pot of Finnish salmon chowder with LOTS of dill. There are some days when a fish chowder just really hits the spot.
...and in case the weather is really lousy: lots of food - check; rye and ginger ale - check; warm blankets - check. How lucky to be able to sit in a warm and comfortable house, eating whatever food I like, sleep in a warm and comfortable bed, doing the work I love. Even in all this snow!
Mind you, the car hasn’t been this clean since November.
Friday: where did the week go? The predicted storm never did materialise in Corner Brook, but certainly did around
Grand Falls and other parts of the island. Stranded drivers were being rescued from their cars, high winds and closed highways. Corner Brook seemed to be in the eye of the storm. So Tuesday there was work, and in the evening I was guest speaker at a Beta Sigma Phi chapter. Had never heard of this group, until coming here, but here’s a link to this service organisation:http://www.betasigmaphi.org/
Wednesday evening - the Men’s Club has a dinner meeting. Good United Church food - ham and scalloped potatoes, and marinated carrots; followed by some incredible cherry dessert. After the dinner, some of us clergy intended to be at the General Meeting of the cemetery association; my interpretation of “General Meeting” is that it is appropriate for those with a vested interest in its functioning to attend. Turns out the location for the meeting was changed the day before and not everyone was notified of the change.
Thursday morning on the way to the office, I stop to buy Winter Carnival buttons. The high winds and blowing snow begin - and I wander home for lunch and some reading. Plows have been around, and there is a two-foot-high and two-foot-wide pile of stuff blocking the drive. No way to get in over that, so out come the shovels and scoop, and I clear snow for a good 45 minutes. Prior to the evening Stewards meeting, I also have a meeting with two other people at the church to look at possibilities for new computers. I get to the church, take a good run at that famous parking lot hill, and Oops! I am sliding sideways. At least it’s sideways going up, not down. The good snow tires get a grip, and inch by screeching inch I make it up the hill - in three inches of snow. Administrator grins and gives the thumbs up! By the time Stewards is over, the moon is out and the weather is changing! Maritime weather for sure.
Friday arrives - blue skies and snow melting in the streets. The roadways are visible. My snow clearers were here during the night; as the sun strengthens, the accumulated ice and snow from the car melts. The change is here, I think - there has been a smell of spring in the air. I am spending the day doing next to nothing - finishing some of the household chores, and doing some needlework. Nice to have a day to do nothing quite deliberately.
So I leave this week’s blog with the photo of the Winter Carnival button...
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