This Year? Really?

It’s my 12th December in Washington, and for a dozen years, I’ve wished for enough snow at the holidays to make it feel festive. (It’s the only time of year I want it to snow. Otherwise, I’ll pass, thanks.) For 11 years, Mother Nature has declined to play along. This year, though? The one where I have a huge trip looming and really need to get stuff done? When I have a list of tasks and errands as long as my arm? Yeah. This is the year for snowmageddon.

And it seems as if this may, in fact, be for real. I am generally skeptical of winter storm threats around here — with very few exceptions, they tend to lead to very little. This storm, however, started three hours early, is sticking (to the grass, sidewalks, and roads), and has what the northeasterner in me knows is the danger sign: tiny, tiny snowflakes. The forecasts are calling for 12 to 24 inches, and, well, it looks like it could happen.

Wanna know the best part? We might get thundersnow, which, if you’ve never experienced it, is the weirdest damn weather you’ll ever see. It’s exactly what it sounds like… a thunderstorm, but while it’s snowing. Like I said, snowmageddon. *

* alternate terms include “snowpocalypse” and “snOMG,” because what’s the fun of a giant storm if you can’t give it a silly name?

The Voice of the Boa Constrictor

Shortly before bed last night, I read the news that Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul & Mary had died. Sigh.  Not only did we grow up on Peter, Paul & Mary but I still love listening to them.  I have even seen them in more recent years in concert and on PBS, of course.

I’ll probably get killed for this, but even my big brother has a soft spot for Peter, Paul & Mary… I don’t know when this started but every night he sings the “Boa Constrictor” song to his boys before bed.  And they love it!  The Minnesota nephews asked me if I knew the Boa Constrictor song when we were visiting a couple of weeks ago. They love it too.

Peter, Paul & Mary have thus bonded the generations of our family, which is what I imagine an artist hopes to accomplish when they set out to create – that their art will be appreciated and live long beyond them. I don’t know if that is true in the larger world (although I imagine it is given their enduring following) but it is in our families.

And, so “the years have gone by too quickly it seems,” and here we are… Rest in Peace, Mary, and thank you for the sweet melodies of my youth. You will be missed.

Pre-Dawn Rant

(I have no idea why, but I was wide awake at 5:30 this morning, and for some reason had this rant on my mind. I thought writing it down might help me get back to sleep; it didn’t, but I present it here, nevertheless, with only light editing.)

One of the things that drove me a little nuts during a large chunk of the Bush administration was the seemingly-constant refrain from the right that vocally disagreeing with the president during a time of war was inappropriate to the point of bordering on treason. Now, of course, there is a different person in the White House, but we’re still at war, and yet many of those same people are complaining as if their lives depend on it. To them, I have two things to say:

1. It doesn’t feel like treason, does it? It feels like you’re exercising a very important constitutional right, doesn’t it? Yeah. I thought so.

2. Keep it up. I don’t agree with you, and oftentimes think you’re plain-ass crazy, but we were right about the dissent thing. It is important, it is your right, and it is your duty.

And now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I have just one thing to add:

All this squawking about the President’s planned address to students? It’s just, well, childish. This is a pep talk, not a policy speech; the President of the United States is merely taking time out of his busy schedule to tell kids that education has value and that staying in school is important. This is, as far as I know, pretty much the same message most parents try to send, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. Hearing it from as many people as possible, including the President — the holder of an office they should respect, even when they (or you) don’t like the person in it — can’t hurt. It might, in fact, help.