Snowed

For a day and a half, due no doubt to the rain and snow squalls, high-speed internet access here on the mountain varied from brief and intermittent to non-existent. I was forced to resort to dial-up, where it can take half an hour to complete the simplest task. No chance then of my attention leaping from site to site; I became as slow and single-minded as an autumn cricket.

When I step outside, mid-afternoon, my quilted shirt turns white with sudden pixels. I blink like a cursor. All the dried goldenrod heads are blossoming into a second, ghostly life.