Fever and Flow

I've been swept away with Olympic fever the past few days.  It started with the opening ceremonies on Friday night and hasn't let up.

I love the Winter Olympics...the figure skating, snowboarding, hockey, skiing...just all of it.  I laughed at the totally casual and laid-back attitude of Sage Kotsenburg when he won the first gold in snowboarding; the elegance of Charlie White as he skated so beautifully with his partner Meryl Davis; the speed and skill of the American hockey women; the brutal strength it took for Switzerland's Dario Cologna to win the Men's Skiathlon.

And it's just early days!  Woo hoo...

I'm also slightly dazed from lack of sleep.  With the time difference between the West Coast and Sochi, Russia, I find myself watching some competitions at 3:00 in the morning instead of sleeping.  Ah well, it's only once every four years after all and I often have insomnia anyway.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pacific NW has taken a severe weather hit since Thursday.  In a scary, global warming way, right now in my part of the world, it's 72* and I'm barefoot, wearing a light tee shirt, and my doors and windows are open like a Summer's day, but eight miles north, as if a line has been drawn in the sand, the storm system rages through two states and into Canada.

My sister lives in Washington.  While I'm sweating in unprecedented heat, this is what it looked like at her place...

After my brother-in-law emailed me this shot, the snow continued to pile up.  Whole sections of I-5, the major conduit that runs north/south from Canada to Mexico, was closed.  Then the ice came.  Portland was cloaked in a silver thaw--which is a peculiar term because, hey, it's not thawing, it's encasing.  Go figure.

It's very strange to have such a clear divide between hot and cold, frost and sunburn.  If I climbed on my roof and got out a telescope, I could probably see across the sun-filled valley to the edge of the snow drifts. Because it's not gradual, it's abrupt...like a weather wall.  Which is really interesting on one hand, though also worrying on the other.  Our poor beleaguered planet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Well, dear readers, since solving the world's problems is beyond my abilities, I'm heading back to Russia.  At least for a little while I can cheer for the indomitable spirit of the athletes, rather than dwell on doom and gloom...