Friday, January 25, 2013

Poem

My cousin, Ron, sent me this poem.

I get this poem every winter and every winter I love re-reading it.
It's a beautiful poem and very well written.


A poem by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre
Shit!
It's cold!
The End.
I thought it was funny, the poem, I mean.  Joan and I have lived in places like that and at times felt the same way. If you know how to dress for the cold, it's not bad even at -20.  I think about the winters I spent in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, isolated in a forest without close neighbors, no electricity, running water, central heating or a bathroom inside the house I built with my son. Cold as it was at different times, the beauty and solitude of the forest in winter was magnificient.  There was beauty in each day and so quiet you could almost hear the snow falling. I've never REALLY liked living in big cities so for me it was a great experience.

Today I shoveled the balcony and removed about 6 inches of snow. It's probably not necessary to do that but the last two years the apartment below us had water damage to their wall below our balcony after winter so I removed the snow to prevent such a repeat of that.  Other than that we stayed home and studied in the morning and then I had an appointment in the afternoon.

My艣la艂em, 偶e to zabawne, ten wiersz, jaki mam na my艣li. Joan i ja mieszkali艣my w takich miejscach i czasami czu艂em si臋 tak samo.
Je艣li wiesz, jak si臋 ubra膰 , gdy jest zimno, to nie jest 藕le, nawet przy -20. My艣l臋 o zimach, kt贸re sp臋dzi艂em na G贸rnym P贸艂wyspie Michigan, samodzielnie w lesie, bez bliskich s膮siad贸w, przy braku elektryczno艣ci, bie偶膮cej wody, centralnego ogrzewania czy 艂azienki wewn膮trz domu. Zbudowa艂em ten dom z moim synem. Zimno, jakie bywa艂o w r贸偶nych momentach, pi臋kno i samotno艣膰 w zimowym lesie by艂y wspania艂e. Ka偶dego dnia by艂o pi臋knie i tak cicho, 偶e mo偶na by艂o niemal us艂ysze膰 padaj膮cy 艣nieg. Tak naprawd臋 nigdy nie lubi艂em 偶ycia w du偶ych miastach, wi臋c by艂o to dla mnie wspania艂e do艣wiadczenie.

Dzi艣 od艣nie偶a艂em balkon i usun膮艂em oko艂o 6 centymetr贸w 艣niegu. Tego chyba nie trzeba robi膰, ale przez ostatnie dwa lata mieszkanie pod nami mia艂o po zimie uszkodzon膮 przez wod臋 艣cian臋 poni偶ej naszego balkonu, wi臋c usun膮艂em 艣nieg zapobiegaj膮c powt贸rnemu zdarzeniu. Poza tym, 偶e zostali艣my w domu i rano uczyli艣my si臋, to po po艂udniu mia艂em jeszcze um贸wione spotkanie .