a memorable crisis

Mother Nature tantalized us with a couple of unseasonably mild days last week. She does this every so often…but then she takes it back. Liar! Cheater! Fake! On Friday I celebrated the day with a long walk in the warm sunshine and gentle, if sometimes gusty breeze. I filled my lungs with the sweet smell of spring and whisked the cerebral cobwebs away. But before I got home the breeze had escalated into a gale-force wind and the temperature had plummeted. This morning there was ice on the driveway again. Nevertheless the seeds of anticipation were sown.

But summer is a couple of months away so we could still get snow…lots of it. And if not snow, then bone-chilling rain and gloom which will serve to delay the gentle pleasures of springtime. The secret to getting through this time of year is patience. And I think it helps to stay prodigiously busy…which is why this is a good time of the year for writers and artists. It encourages us to hone two essential talents: practice and patience…focusing on our craft and then waiting…and waiting…to harvest the fruits of our efforts.


Whether you write or paint or sing or act, immersing yourself in your art is a great way to pass time until the weather turns predictably and reliably pleasant…until you can’t resist the urge to tend the garden or wash the windows or sweep the sidewalk…any of a thousand tasks that will lure you away from your desk or canvas or script.


So that time will fly for me, I have decided to launch another blog. It’s not ready to post yet…but ideas are gathering and words are flying. Simply put, I thought I should share something about my life in medicine. Truth be known, many of the scenes you may someday read in The Bandaged Place were roughly crafted from memory and experience…and deserve to be re-envisioned as such—as nonfiction, memoir, and essay. I imagine I have enough material to keep me occupied until I forget what it is I’m writing about…


If you’re wondering what you can do to pass the time until spring bursts forth, join me in the A to Z Blogging Challenge at http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/. Every day in April we will post a blog on a topic that begins with the letters of the alphabet, “a” on April 1st, “b” on April 2nd, and so forth until the end of the month. This should keep us busy. But hurry up…it’s almost full.


Outside the wind is still howling and now snow is officially in the forecast again. Luckily I’ll be so busy writing in March and April that by the time I look up again, the honeysuckle will be in full bloom and the grass will need to be mowed.

How will you keep busy until spring arrives?

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“The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather,

from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones,

is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim…

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.

So our prospects brighten on the influence of better thoughts.”

--Thoreau--

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In my next post I’ll tell you about the new writers group I’m meeting with today.

jan