“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

~ Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Up in Saluda, we get the brunt of winter’s hard knocks, while other areas down hill may be untouched. A recent ice storm caused power outages, broken branches, fallen trees, plus slipping and sliding all over town. In pre-dawn blackness and shattering ice noises, I headed outside to retrieve the porch flag: within two feet from the door, I hit unexpected ice — rain had blown in, then froze.

Let’s just say the results weren’t a pretty sight: I went down hard; like a bowling ball, my head connected to the big glass-garden gazing ball that’s brought in from the yard to the porch every winter for safe-keeping. Good-bye ball: hello broken glass! Down for the count, and despite the pain, I was SO glad no one saw this acrobatic skating. Ice Capades, indeed! Sprawled flat, my inner-comedian hollered: “HELP! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” Somehow it was NOT as funny as it is on TV commercials. (Remind me to never poke fun at that line again.)

At least not much was broken: only the glass globe. There are a few times in life extra padding does help save the day and rear — if I’d been without that “insulation” of mine, would have probably broken/cracked something. So, nursing a slightly-purple ankle, bruised hip and hand, along with sore noggin, I hauled myself up from the glacier (which was easier said than done) … then fussed at myself all day for another In-The-Dark accident. (Haven’t forgotten the run-in with evil bolt-cutters last year or dead car escapade.)

When it rains (or ices), it pours: the old saying goes; and a sense of humor helps. The ailing car returned home after nearly two weeks: my thin billfold became positively anorexic after that! I’m now shopping for an electric chainsaw to help clean up the side yard’s mess of downed limbs. More fun: it could be useful for sculpture-making, which is what I’d much rather do than try to tackle the disaster zone.