Sunday, February 09, 2014

Winter Wonderland Weather

Much of North America is blanketed in snow all winter, but here in our rain forest ecosystem on the Pacific Rim, we were having some balmy if misty days, relatively warm weather.

We're almost Mediterranean in some ways, another Alexandria.  So to be suddenly blanketed in snow was a couple standard deviations out for us, a surprise.

What a time to not have my main camera.  I joined Bartons at Mt. Tabor for some spontaneous fun with hundreds of people, some just spectators like me.

A fairly steep hill behind the mid-tier reservoir had been developed for sledding and people were creative in their choice of ride-able object: kayak, rubber dingy with no bottom, snow shovel, one classic "Rosebud" type sled, one classic Germanic toboggan.

All manner of plastic, including Rubbermaid and Tupperware.  Many generations and subcultures represented, some seeing their first snow.

Speaking of first snow, Lindsey has expressed enthusiastic delight for the powdered snow fall experience.  She hails from Florida and although Montreal had snow, it was already on the ground, not falling.

She's currently studying the I Ching in multiple translations, whereas I'm steeped in Gnostic stuff ala Hans Jonas, Tobias Churton, Nag Hammadi and like that.

That's when I'm not screening OSCON proposals on my S3, which Dr. Tag (in Jordan) reminds me I could use for taking pix.  Gnosticism and Subgenius:  a back burner theme.

The Blue House is a scholars' den and proudly a part of the "Buddhist ghetto" rumored to be in SE somewhere.  More accurately these zip codes are somewhat cosmopolitan with many traditions represented, however the Blue House interior in particular tends toward Himalayan motifs given our family overlap with Bhutan.

Speaking of OSCON and its subcultures, former PSF Chairman Holden just managed to squeak past the closing snow storms and high tail it to sunnier weather in points south.  We wish him the best as we try to thaw out.

Welcome to my new LinkedIn contacts, including Leslie Hawthorn, now in the Amsterdam Area.