2023 Life Logs, Day 15: Snow and Wind
Date: Sunday, January 15, 2023
Weather: Wind N 20-30, Snow; High 36, Low 32 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 7:07 am & 4:37 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It finally looks like winter here. When I first went outside with Shadow this morning, the ground was bare. But around 10 am, tiny balls of ice started falling from the sky. Then an hour later, the little ice balls turned to snowflakes, and it snowed lightly off and on all day. It has stopped for now but is supposed to return in the middle of the night and continue during the day tomorrow before ending. The accumulation won’t be much, but at least it looks like winter for a bit. I love the snow, but the wind causes it to feel much colder. Right now, it is 33 degrees out, but it feels like 21 degrees F according to WeatherUnderground.
I drove to Heather’s this morning to feed the cats and do my laundry. Actually, I washed the clothes yesterday and left them in the washer overnight until I returned this morning. I put the clothes in the dryer and then read the article in today’s New York Times by a man who tried to live 24 hours without plastic. Certainly not easy to do, but I felt good that I do some of the things to limit the amount of plastic I ‘donate’ to the earth. I use shampoo and conditioner bars (like bars of soap) that come wrapped in paper. I take a stainless-steel water bottle with me wherever I go, trying to never buy water in a plastic bottle. I carry reusable grocery bags in my car. I have eliminated plastic storage containers in my kitchen, although my glass containers all have plastic lids. I buy most of my fruits and vegetables with no packaging, but the arugula and berries I buy both come in plastic. As was stated in the article, living totally without plastic is almost impossible, but the important thing is to start to do your part to limit when you can and celebrate your successes.
A little more puzzling today, researching possibilities of purchasing wine produced in a woman owned and operated winery for Friday night’s wine group gathering, finalized communications for Tuesday’s field trip to the Kennedy Institute, and fought the wind to walk with Shadow and play fetch. That was it for me today. And tonight, I AM NOT going to watch a movie. I’m still reeling from watching Bardo last night. This morning I looked up the meaning of the world ‘bardo.” According to Wikipedia: “Used without qualification, ‘bardo’ is the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth.” According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one’s next birth, when one’s consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena.” Following these Tibetan traditions there are three death bardos: one of dying, dharmata, which means the intrinsic nature of everything, whatever that means, and the bardo of becoming. No wonder I didn’t understand the movie. But even without understanding, I think it is worth watching. Like I said in last night’s log, our minds need a little stretch once in a while.
