blahMaybe it's a ward against all possible futures.
I did leave the house yesterday afternoon, to make a trip to the market and pharmacy with Kathryn. I only got out at the market. Pharmacies are the very worst places, health wise, this time of year. It's bad enough that Kathryn had to go inside. I can only imagine every surface crawling with bacteria and viruses. So, no wonder I dislike leaving the house, particularly during this season. This isn't hypochondria or any other neurosis; it's a realistic understanding of microbiology and epidemiology. Still, the bit of snow that preceded all this snow was nice to see.
Last night, we watched T.J. Martin's The Donner Party (2009). It's a genuinely effective film, making the most of the oppressive winter atmosphere of the actual Donner Pass in California. Men struggle against each other to survive, but the true "enemy," the antagonist, is the snow, the leaden sky, and the camera reminds us again and again. It's a quiet film, as it should have been. What could have been quieter than that tomb during the winter of 1846-1847? Outer space, perhaps. And in the early middle years of the Nineteenth Century, those men and women and children might as well have been on the moon. I do strongly recommend this film, despite a few liberties taken with the historicity of the event. However, I would recommend that you first watch the PBS documentary The Donner Party (part of the American Experience series). The historical background will serve you well. For example, you'll understand all that talk of Hastings. And a little more edumacation never hurt anyone.
Anyway, I think that's all I forgot to write this morning.
Filling In,
Aunt Beast
