Ice fishing on the moat

Ice on the field house, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester MA

Some of the more imaginative 5th graders at school think that I live in a castle. So while I was out running this morning at 5am, enjoying some beautifully delicate snowfall, listening with wonder to the fire-like crackling of damp flakes fluttering into the few crinkled leaves clinging to dormant trees, and planning how to spend my third snow day since January 12, I wondered how I might spend it if I lived in a castle. Apart from using my laptop to post this entry, write report card comments, and listen to music (Bach's cello concertos this time around), most of my activities thus far today could indeed have been approximated within the confines of a snowbound fortress centuries ago. Reading a book and writing some letters. Enjoying soup at lunch. Knitting. Even the music would have been possible, thanks to a marooned troop of wandering minstrels, although Bach would be a bit anachronistic. And what good is a moat if it's frozen? Might as well poke some holes in it and go fishing... and then let any marauders fall through said holes if they're silly enough to mount a winter campaign!

So as winter continues to assail central New England (a very appropriate state of affairs in my humble estimation), and people continue to cope with the weather and its disruptive effects as best they can, I again wonder: what lessons are there in yet another snowstorm? What inklings and notions get plowed aside for the sake of routines and responsibilities, however noble they may be? Are we now perhaps afflicted by the flurry of activity with which our ancestors sought to cure isolation-induced cabin fever, and occasionally in need of a storm-induced hiatus to bring greater peace and life to our souls?

I, for one, am glad to have this day off, and to catch up on pleasures that I'm often led to neglect by the busy pace of my work as a teacher. Lingering at table to enjoy conversation long after the meal is done. Knitting something both practical and piquant. Using an artificial lens in attempts to capture and share some of the imagery that catches my eye. And of course, venturing outside amid the frost and chill of a New England winter, ice fishing on the moat.

A ghost at the door (see, my castle is haunted!)