Count Your Geigers

Day 55: Now I will tell you the other half of the story regarding yesterday's snowflakes.

What you see here are glow-in-the-dark icicles from the 1950s era, that time in human history when radioactivity was much used and little understood. They contain what is undoubtedly far more radioactive material than is good for me, but you might say it's too late now to make much difference. You see, I've already been thoroughly irradiated...and so have yesterday's snowflakes.

Yesterday's snowflakes are not supposed to glow in the dark, but they do. Albeit faintly, they have a definite glow about them of this same hue. They were always stored with the radioactive icicles and by their close association became marked, much as a young, innocent person hanging with the wrong crowd might be. It is too late for them to redeem their reputation. It will mar their character references, stain their resumés and keep them from entering employment as ordinary snowflakes forevermore. Tarred by a radium-bearing brush, their past will follow them through its half-life whenever a Geiger test comes around.

Snowflakes Of Yesterday

Day 54: Snowflakes, seven of them from sixty years ago, preserved from year to year grace my Christmas tree. Once there were eight, but like their natural cousins, they possess a fragile crystal structure and one met an untimely end at a very early point in their history. These remaining ones are handled with utmost care. Another most unusual facet of their character will be revealed in a subsequent story!

Without Spritz, It's Not Christmas

Day 53: For me, the holiday season begins with St. Nicholas Day. In my family, St. Nicholas paid his visit during the evening of the 6th some time after dark but before my bedtime. It upset me somewhat that my daddy had just excused himself to go get a cup of coffee and was therefore out of the room when I heard the audible "Thunk!" which meant St. Nick had thrown the traditional bag of candy and cookies in through the front door. It bothered me to think that Daddy was missing out on the experience, not because I suspected him of collusion with the saint.

In remembrance of those days, I now make cookies on or near St. Nicholas' feast, nearly always beginning my baking with spritz. Without spritz, it's not Christmas. Let me forego turkey and dressing, but do not deprive me of these buttery little jewels so gaily crusted in glittering sugar crystals!

Frosty The Towhee

Day 52: The Spotted Towhees (Pipilo maculatus) were particularly photogenic this morning, perhaps because of a heavy frost. Normally a very elusive and rapidly moving subject, several of them perched on various branches of the contorted filbert instead of scurrying around beneath it, furtively lurking in the tangled stems. A beautiful robin-sized bird, they remain in the Pacific Northwest throughout the winter, adding color at the feeders, our "Christmas bird" stand-in for the cardinals of the eastern portion of the country.

And A Crow In A Hemlock Tree

Day 51: The top of this hemlock is a favored perch for the Watch Crow who is supposed to caw out when breakfast is put out on the crow board. Almost every morning, one of my feathered kin will be waiting for me there, and as soon as I spread the dry dog food out on the board, the swarm descends, often not letting me get more than ten feet away. It's taken years to build up that trust. If no one happens to be on watch, I give out a three-caw call myself to indicate "Food here, not sure if it's safe" after once telling an inadvertent fib with a four-caw "Safe food" announcement. My neighbor started his truck ten seconds later, and the crow board was regarded with suspicion for some time following.

Girl In A Snow Chapeau

Day 50: I left home with intention to take a short snowshoe hike back up to my "secret falls," this time with the tripod in my pack. I was terribly disappointed when I got there, because not only had I forgotten the "foot" which screws into the bottom of the camera for mounting, the ice had degraded rather badly and didn't offer much which would have been worth photographing. In order to salvage something from my efforts, I chose to go further up the road.

Did I mention that it was noon when I left home? One thing led to another and then another, and before I knew it, I was three miles in. I kept going for another half mile or so until I reached a minor destination, took a few photos and started the trek back. I'd gone a quarter mile or so when I noticed a fringe of ice hanging from a mat of snow on top of a large boulder, so I pulled out the camera. In panning the boulder, I spotted this profile. To me, it looks like a young woman, and the snow makes a perfect fur hat to keep her warm through the winter.

'Tis The Season

Day 49: It is the season of sparkle and glitter, of lights, of ribbons and packages, of the scent of evergreens and fresh-baked cookies. It is December, and time to start wrapping those packages and writing those Christmas letters. What, you haven't started yet? Best get cracking before you look up and find December 23 glaring at you from the calendar.