The Weekend Report

Am still amazed about the birds. I can't get over their singing, and how I can identify one or two calls. I hear a loud hammering and I look around for the woodpecker -- there it is! The goldfinches are really gold now; three of them crowded our birdfeeder this morning.

This weekend has been gray and a bit raw, although I saw occasional blue sky yesterday, and in the high forties/low fifties. Still, two days in a row we've spent a lot of time outside. I have to consciously make myself go outside, now that the weather is remotely nice out. It just isn't part of my m.o., and to learn how to go outside -- to develop a sense of wanting to go outside -- is a big part of the reason I wanted to move to the country.

So, yesterday we biked with friends on the bike path for about three hours. We went up the path to the end, into Look Park, the town park, biked around, came back down the path, drove to the Hungry Ghost, the Buddhist bakery, got good French bread, went home. Lovely! As long as I was moving I didn't mind the occasional snow flake. When we got home I gathered kindling and brought in firewood. I want to have fires as long as it's even remotely cold enough.

And today we finally made it to the Sunday pick-up soccer game I've been hearing about for a year. It takes place on a small field downtown and we all three ran around with kids and adults for about an hour and a half. Again, as long as I keep moving I'm not so cold. I made some good saves but am not a very good goalie. I did okay, though, considering I haven't played in 30 years.
I am also starting to confront and get over my fear of being cold. Yes I was cold but I knew I'd be home and warm in the shower soon enough.

Oh, and this morning before we played soccer I raked a tiny section of leaves for about a half hour. Dave and Lily came out and helped scoop them up and dump them in the woods. We saw tons of worms. If you've been here you know we have a million oak trees, so the leaf raking will be never-ending. Still, it's nice to have a reason to be outside. I can also see there's a lot to do in the yard, even though we don't have a lawn and the entire thing is covered with that damn pachysandra. I don't really know what to do, though, so I am going to start with raking.

Friday night we went to the Northampton high school production of Anything Goes and it was hilarious! I hadn't realized it was co-written by P.G. Wodehouse, every line a killer, and they did a ton of great stage business, too. The leads were all quite strong and hey, you can't beat a show full of Cole Porter classics. You're the Top, You'd Be So Easy to Love, Blow Gabriel Blow, I Get a Kick Out of You, and of course, Anything Goes. I was really impressed with the entire production.

Glad to be here.