periods of snow

so i drove the bus again this morning. the rain had stopped, but the streets were still quite wet and the bud casings and norway maple flowers were relentlessly spattering onto the down tube of the white bike, as the somewhat grisly photo shows. *sighs* at least it cleans up well.

and the fog lifted and the smells are truly remarkable, the occasional blasts of lilacs and apple blossoms and even korean spice verbena (i swear i smelled that some evening last week) breaking through the ordinary background earth and worms and the miscellaneous hydrocarbons spread all around by the cars, or in the neighborhoods that random snootful of fabric softener, or cigarette smoke from an open window.




i have revised my backpacking plans somewhat, due to the grim forecast for the weekend: at wawa, they were saying "periods of snow" for saturday (that has sinced changed to "chance of rain showers or flurries"). i'm thinking pictured rocks instead, which i had been thinking of off and on anyway; our national weather service is less optimistic about the possibility of rain along the southern shore of lake superior than environment canada is about the eastern shore. this is to be expected, following all that incredible warmth and sunshine over the past few weeks, and of course i can handle weather in any event. but somehow i feel a little more comfortable going someplace familiar, should things get nasty; i hope to discover lake superior provincial park under better circumstances this autumn. we shall see.

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