Kolkata Diary. Just In Time For Winter

We’ve had such a mellow winter.  The temperatures have been mostly above freezing.  And we’ve had very little snow.

Until this week.

Now there’s  about a foot of snow on the ground and more coming tomorrow.

When I decided to got to India, it was August.  And somehow, I always seem to forget what the other seasons are like when we’re not in them.    So I didn’t think about how I’d be leaving the farm, and Jon alone on it in the winter, when I was making my plans.

Not that it would have stopped me from going.  But  it did give Jon something to tease me about for months.  Me leaving him alone on the farm in the winter.

But when the winter turned out to be a mild one, I got used to the idea that I’d have an easy drive to the airport and Jon wouldn’t have to do any shoveling while I was gone.

That changed this morning when I woke up and Jon had this strange look on his face.

Jon always wakes up hours before me and has a handle on what going on in the world, including the weather, by the time I open my eyes.

The snow storm that’s coming our way tomorrow is supposed to start in the morning and get worse in the afternoon.  I’ll be driving out of it on my way to Logan airport, where the snow will turn to rain.  So I’ve changed my plans to leave even earlier and get a hotel room near the airport.  Once there, I’ll have plenty of time to blog, read and  relax before my flight that night.

The weather is not something I worry about.  Just because I have absolutely no control over it.  All I can do is react to it and plan my way around it.

At this point I’m all packed and all I need to do is show Jon which plants to water and help him tidy up his office.

That tidying is part of Jon’s adventure for the next two weeks like I’m in India.  He’ll be having a writing residency at home.  Cassandra will be coming in the mornings to take care of the animals and move fire wood (and now shovel snow)  so Jon can concentrate on his writing.  I think him having his schedule turned upside down in this way, will  shock his creativity into the unexpected.  Who knows what will happen.

It took Jon a long time to get used to this idea (I’m not completely sure he’s accepted it yet).  His ego kept getting in the way, convincing him that his getting help with the chores was about his inability to do them.  He kept wanting to prove that he could take care of the farm by himself.

That’s how ego screws us sometimes.  My mantra to him was that this is about creativity, not what he can and can’t do.  That’s boring compared to being able to dedicate himself to his work in a new way.

So tomorrow I’ll drive off, hopefully before the snow starts falling and Jon will be left with a tidy, if not clean, house filled with sleeping cats and dogs who want to “get the sheep” each in their own way. I’ll leave him with some shoveling to do, good friends and Cassandra to do the morning chores.  I’ll leave him two weeks of quiet creative time, to use how he finds it suits him best. I’ll leave him with a necklace I made  for him with ties to India, a heart shaped soap in the shower and a couple of other surprises to remind him of me when I’m gone.