This is February

[muckefuck]

Since I missed the Groundhog Day festivities last weekend, I'm not sure what kind of weather I'm supposed to be expecting for the near term. Last night after supper, it was snowing great guns--we could hardly see a block in any direction--but it had tapered off to an icy flurry by the time I shlepped home through two inches of fresh snow. The tree branches were heavily laden but the loveliest sight was actually the chain-link fence outside the Saddle and Cycle Club. Snow had half-filled many of the openings leaving an alternating pattern of soft white triangles and murky darkness.

By this morning, the snowmelt was already dripping from above and pooling on the street. Walking to the burriteria at lunchtime meant keeping an eye peeled for near-invisible slush slicks and carefully skirting huge piles of brackish water. (On his way to meet us Saturday night, SBIL saw a distracted pedestrian wade ankle-deep into one small urban lake before realising what she was doing.) The ground is still solidly white, however, and there's an evocative gray mist oozing between buildings and trees.

They're predicted thunderstorms for tonight and tomorrow followed by more snow. Such an odd week! It's already bizarre enough that we have a rare conjunction of early Mardi Gras and late Chinese New Year. I feel sorry for the Chinese Catholics, but the rest of us could party the first three days of the week and barely pause for Ash Wednesday prayers before ushering in the Year of the Rat that same evening.

Comments

[f8n-begorra.livejournal.com]

And how about the Irish first day of Spring (Lá Féile Bride)?


Cill Aodáin
le Antaine Ó Reachtaire (1784-1835)

Anois teacht an Earraigh beidh an lá dul chun síneadh,
Is tar eis na féile Bríde ardóidh mé mo sheol.
Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é ní stopfaidh me choíche
Go seasfaidh mé thíos i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.
I gClár Clainne Mhuiris a bhéas mé an chéad oíche,
Is i mBalla taobh thíos de 'thosós mé ag ól,
Go Coillte Mach rachad go ndéanfad cuairt mhíosa ann,
I bhfogas dhá mhíle do Bhéal an Áth' Mhóir.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Go raibh maith agat, a spideoigín!

[oh-meow.livejournal.com]

it's Pancake Day today - do you get to celebrate that? Proper thin pancakes mind, no round puffy breakfast ones.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Who needs pancakes when you have pączki?

[oh-meow.livejournal.com]

half the fun of pancake making is turning them over by tossing them in the air and catching them with the hot pan.

the shop round the corner sells the most disgusting looking frozen version of those polish donuts. There are lots and lots of young polish people in Reading. I particularly like the huge 70p cartons of cherry and apple juice. All the polish I know is food label stuff.

[oh-meow.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Shrovetide_Football there is also this, where the goals are 3 miles apart and each team can have hundreds of people

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

The game is played through the town with no limit player numbers or playing area (aside from those mentioned in the rules below), it is for this reason that shops in the town are boarded up during the game, and people are encouraged to park their cars away from the main streets.

Man, I love it when you let 8 year-olds come up with your most time-honoured traditions!

[oh-meow.livejournal.com]

The other thing is the pancake race, where you run a relay race tossing pancakes in a frying pan, and you're disqualified if you lose.

I think 8 year olds also came up with cheese rolling and welly wanging.

[oh-meow.livejournal.com]

Disqualified if you drop your pancake I mean

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I can't remember if we have such races here, but I remember reading about the ones in Britain back when I was eight years old.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Happy Fat (Super-Duper) Tuesday!

I'm still wearing my big boots, even in the mild weather, because of those urban lakes. They've been put to the waterproof test and have passed so far.

It will not be fun when the water turns to ice tonight.

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

who needs pancake day when you can have carnival? It took me a while, but I've finally come around to my wife's way of thinking on this.

Mysteriously, however, we never seem to manage to get to Brazil in the critical week...

As for Bride's day, or St. Bridget, or even Candlemas, if you like, I've always been fond of it 'cuz' it's my birthday.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday, fool!

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

erm, thanks, Mr. T.