Day 5 - 3 -- Harbinger

The first day is over. The intro class for one course went well. I met with a couple of students for early term questions and met with admin folks to figure out a couple of conundrums. I left those with the experts and will see how things go over the next couple of days. In the midst of the flow of the first few classes of term a major nor'easter is set to descend upon us. It may be all snow or snow followed by freezing rain, ice pellets and rain or any combo of the above. Forecasts have been changing hourly all day. The one sure thing is that something wicked is headed our way -- and there will be gale force (to just under storm force) winds. Snow is expected to fall at a ridiculous rate of 4-5 cm (about 2 inches) per hour by mid afternoon tomorrow. With the wind gusts, that will be so ugly. I expect the campus will choose to close noonish -- my guess based on past years. We'll see. <smile>  I will have oodles to shovel by the end of it all early evening tomorrow -- 20-25 cm (8-10 inches) or more <sigh>. I walked to the office and an appointment today in the sunny cold morning. I will walk again tomorrow to be sure I can get back into the driveway when the plows deposit the snow from the whole block at my house <grin>.

I'd like to live in denial -- in a place where the big storm isn't really going to leave huge amounts of snow in my yard. The blessing is that I don't have classes on Friday this term, so I will be able to shovel and rest (repeatedly) to get a walkway to the street. It will be heavy and wet by then due to temperatures rising above freezing. But, that too, may change with time <smile>. I've been listening to a wonderful concert in memory of Leonard Cohen and his music and a song just played that fit my wish to imagine a different outcome for tomorrow <smile>. I'll share that here tonight. Bettye LaVette sang this so well at the concert, but a clear audio was hard to find. The version here is sung by the man himself.  The tempo is so relaxing as is that amazing gravelly voice. Enjoy! 

My Secret Life -- Leonard Cohen