A Winter Walk

 

The Ecstatic Alarm, 11th Day of Childwinter, 525 M.E. (Electra): Apparently, I survived yesterday's snowfall in Atlanta without a power outage. Frankly, I'm surprised. There were lots of other power losses here in the Atlanta region, I heard on the news, but the old trees around here managed to hold up against this latest assault. This time.

I stayed home and in the house all day yesterday. I didn't see any reason to go out into the cold and snow-freezing rain outside, and had food, television, video games, and books inside.   

"Hey!," a neighbor texted me last night. "When I was walking by your house, I noticed your snow is undisturbed. You all good?"  

No footprints on my driveway, I suppose. I was touched that she was checking in on me and felt a sense of community and security knowing that we neighbors have each others' backs. I'm reminded of the kindness in this world as the power company linemen brave the cold, wind, and snow to replace downed lines and restore electricity to those in the dark without heat. The police and firemen and other first responders who still have to go about their work despite the conditions. The truck drivers and grocers who are even now restocking shelves and replenishing our food supplies. There's a lot of cruelty in the word, true, but there's also a lot of kindness if we look for it. 

Despite the cold today, it being the alternate day, I took my walk this afternoon - 5.8 miles, the same as  last time. I made sure to take several pictures of the rare snow cover in Georgia. The picture above is Tanyard Creek from a footbridge along the Beltline path. 

At some point during the day, the clouds broke up and the sun finally came through, which was brilliant and helped accelerate the snowmelt along the roads. The roads appear to be generally navigable for the most part. Fortunately, though, it's clouded back up. Fortunately, since an overnight cloud cover caps in the little warmth accumulated during the day, instead of letting all the heat radiate out into the darkness of space on a cloudless night.

I walked today with my headphones on and listened to Perverts, the amazing new dark ambient drone album by Ethel Cain. Highly, highly recommended and it brings up the question, can an AOTY be dropped on the 8th of January? After the 90 minutes of Perverts, I continued my walk listening to Joy Guidry's decidedly more upbeat Amen, and then the country-ambient Rave Angels by Jules Reidy. I hadn't set out intending to listen to all transgender musicians, but I just got lucky, I guess. Anyway, an amazing soundtrack for a cold and moody day.