I am in the cabin now, after thinking about being here for so long. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what being in the cabin will be like, and reality rarely lives up to what actually happens, but here the fire is roaring as it strives to warm the place, and the rain and melting snow melting off the roof is drumming. I am tired from the trip.
The flight which left Winnipeg tried to land in Montreal twice and then landed in Toronto for refueling and releasing the passengers for Halifax, and then took us back to Montreal where they had plowed out from under the blowing snow enough to land the plane. Then I waited in line for over an hour, watching the next flight from Fredericton drift closer and closer. Finally I was at the counter and after a quick phone call I was running down the electric walkway to see if I could catch a flight that was ostensibly leaving in ten minutes. It was delayed too, of course, and I heaved with dry coughs as I took the thirty minutes to recover from the run. Once aboard, it was a bit rough, and arrived in Fredericton late. I taxied to Mike and Carol’s place where Mike met me at the door, up by alarm, at one am.
It was still a late night, for I sent information to Air Canada trying to track down my luggage that was likely either in Toronto or Montreal. Luckily, they called this morning, just a few hours later while I was trying to meet up with my friend’s kid but she was examined out and had forgotten. But I met my friend on campus and then went back to find my luggage and buy food for the cabin.
Grocery shopping for the winter is very different than what I normally do. Typically I worry about food going bad in the heat, but in the winter I have remember that some food can go bad after freezing, although the food I normally worry about rotting I can keep frozen now. I bought three loaves of bread, a bag of basmati rice, and lots of tofu products. Also since I don’t have to worry about soy milk going off I can but two litre jugs. I have the perishables in the porch, while the fire is hot enough now that I am getting sleepy after bring up so late last night.
Dennis came by to pick me up after work and I jumped in the back while he picked up Dean and his daughter Katie, so we got to meet after all. Once we were home and were sitting around the table with the family it felt like summer again. I visit them often when I am in the cabin, and it is always a delight. We covered a hundred topics and I gave Miriam a toolbox only to find out in a whispered conference with her mother that she already had one wrapped and under the tree. Ah well, I guess that means it is a good gift. I am not a gift giver, typically, but I wanted to support Miriam in her interest in tools, and I had the toolbox from my friend.
Because we were up so late I tried to sleep in but I was thinking about how to get across my stream considering how much rain we’d had. The creeks are over their banks and I was worried until Kim drove me to the bush and I saw the creek covered with broken ice. Large panels of ice were cracked in the middle and melting under the middle of the creek and water was rushing over the top of the ice on both sides. I laid down a pallet and then an old door and walked over them, since I didn’t trust the ice. I expect the middle of the ice 
where the crack is thinning and likely dangerous. If the ice cracked I would likely be pulled under the ice. I wasn’t, although the ice cracked a bit under the door.
Once I had carried my two heavy backpacks over, as well as the four litres of water and a bag of three loaves of bread, I pulled the wood on shore where it wouldn’t get washed away if the ice breaks and the water rises.
The cabin is in excellent shape and now quite warm and cozy. The fire is heavy coals and the temperature is 22 or so. I am heavy with sleep as I write this, looking forward to being here and the peace of my solitude, although my foreign students don’t really understand it.
