I’ve never had a better season of skiing. The last few weeks I have left the dry
brown of the city almost every morning to drive up to the deep white of the
hills. Yesterday I arrived back
home around 2:00pm. Snow was
falling even in town, and a flock of robins was pecking up the back yard. The forest floor that I am trying to
cultivate must shelter a feast of grubs and worms. I hope a couple of robins stay as they did last year. The majority of them are on their way
to Prince George, if the locals are to be believed. This morning, Vernon was sparkling white, but I didn’t go
skiing. I went with my book,
Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George, to ‘The Bean Scene’ for coffee
and a cinnamon bun. My job sorting
books at the fire hall is perfect for me.
Since I rarely read a book when it’s first out, I have a chance for
$1.00 to pick up old ones whenever I want. This one is very detailed and well written. I’m getting lost in late Victorian
England and two men’s lives that intersect about 2/3 of the way through the
book. Now I’m at the part where
they are beginning to work together on a malicious mystery that has upset the
life of one of them, George Edalji, and his family for many years. The other character is Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle. I can hardly put the book
down because it has seemed at many points already that things should have been
resolved but they haven’t. I
wonder if even Arthur will be able to penetrate the fog of ordinary
maliciousness and incompetence that surrounds George.
Meanwhile, back in Vernon in 2014, it’s sunny and getting
warm. Much of yesterday’s snow has
melted. The birds are in the back
yard, chirping. There’s hope that
at last spring is here even if the Malaysian plane has still not been found,
the war in Syria rages on, Afghanistan is reverting to Taliban violence, Pauline
Marois dreams on of founding a new country and a chill breeze of the Cold War
seems to be blowing.
Jay with the new baby, Kang Woo Jin.
The rain tree, Albizia saman, in front of the house covered in snow.
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