Cold Rain and Snow...

I'd almost forgotten what a snowy landscape looks like, unil I awoke this morning. It is one of the types of snow we are used to in northeast Ohio. As the morning gets underway the snow turns to rain, turns to mush....cold, wet, mush. Add a little ice and you have a familiar late fall day in Akron. The snow on mornings like this is often the same type of snow we will see in the very early spring. But make no mistake about it, winter is just about to begin.

I need to do my christmas shopping sometime here in the next month. Damn!! I think the idea should be to do it soon and through the mail so that I don't have to go to the dreaded shopping mall. "The friendliest mall of all" is just down the way if I need it.

Thanksgiving morning there is a nice little run through West Akron to raise money for one of the homeless shelter's in town. Butch Renoylds will be there. Santa Clause will be there. You should be there too!! It's a good way to work up an appetite for Thanksgiving dinner and set yourself up for a nice nap on the sofa during the football game. This year the weather should be nice; around 35 or 40 degrees during the race and dry. Last year we ran through a blizzard. I recall one point during the last mile or so of the run when I had to stare at my feet to keep the snow from stinging my eyes. If I looked ahead, which I tried to do simply for the shear amazement of the situation, I could only see a for a few feet before everything faded into a swirling white abyss. By the fourth mile my beard was frozen solid and I was ready for the warm coffee waiting at the finsh line. This year will be a little different.

Last friday nite we were treated to something special at the Kent State Folk Festival, The Sparrow Quartet, fresh off an airplane arriving from Tibet. These folks were masterful, which is what one would expect from such a group of musicians. And, your grandmother would have liked it. As a matter of fact, she probably would have known a couple of the songs, as they played a handful of old tunes.

Well, I must be off into the cold rain to listen to lectures on mass wasting and geometric theories. Nothing like a morning thinking about dirt and triangles to get the week started...