Winter

 

I sit here tonight upon my warm bed contemplating this winter, the recently passed holidays and the dark skies outside my window. The holidays were unusually quiet without the usual family hubbub but quite nice just the same. We were hit with a series of at least three winter storms starting in the week prior to Christmas and extending to the New Year, making life interesting. Winds raged with horizontal curtains of snow until the snow became rain and then transformed again back to snow. I can hardly describe the misery of shoveling snow amidst a pouring rain only to find the glare of ice following my path of hard work. Cindy was scheduled to have eye surgery at 6;30 AM the next morning and the snow returned to rain during the night. I was up before 4 in the morning shoveling the snow off the ice, hoping to clear a path down the alley for the car to travel to the hospital or at least to be able to clear a path to pull her and a sled there in time for her appointment. The car made it. Nearing the hospital I saw a lone figure snowshoeing along the road, barely visible through the darkness and enveloped in white curtains of horizontal snow. After checking Cindy in, I returned to the car and drove back to where I had last seen this ghostly image in order of offer assistance but the apparition had melted into the swirling white wind. It turned out that the early appointment time was a blessing. Shortly after arriving home we learned that the hospital had lost power.

We had planned on celebrating the New Year at Black Rapids Lodge about 130 miles southeast of here but the winter conditions wisely convinced me to cancel the reservations. It would have been a fun escape into the mountains as the lodge puts on a fireworks display to welcome the New Year and also has a great wood-fired sauna, live music, good ski trails and fantastic food and drink. The lodge is built of giant timbers artfully handcrafted together and is a wonderful place to hide-away for a snowy winter night or two. My decision to cancel was a good one, as the highway ended up closing  when it became impassable.

While the New Year escape cancelation was a bit disappointing we at least enjoyed a Winter Solstice get-a-way a few weeks previous. We booked a room at the Marriott hotel in downtown Fairbanks despite it being within walking distance of our house. There we witnessed one of the best firework displays I have ever seen while standing along the frozen Chena River to welcome the Winter Solstice . We ate fresh oysters, and spiced fresh tuna as well as other fine food at the Lavell 's Bistro and made a great night of it without even leaving town. Perhaps I'm a pagan at heart, as I always like celebrating the celestial holidays the most; they being the true reason for the season.