As I write this it is still dark outside, but like the rest of the civilized world I am waiting anxiously to see if our local groundhog will see his shadow. Being already 8 am in Pennsylvania now, I assume the "official" U.S. ground hog has already seen his shadow and scurried back in his hole. (Yes, people, there really is a Punxsutawney Phil.) I am afraid to look at the Yahoo home page right now - I'm sure they have the result posted. Also I am not in the mood for things Pennsylvania this morning since the slimy cheating ref-paying Steelers "beat" my beloved Arizona Cardinals last night. But we all know who the real best team is. Me? - I will wait for our local result. Although I already know what it is going to be since today is supposed to be sunny.What amazes me is the number of people who don't believe this ritual predicts the length of winter. Can you imagine such backward ignorance in this day and age? Thank god for groundhog science.
It has occurred to me, though, that some enlightened people who believe in the magical powers of groundhogs, may be unable, through no fault of their own, to take advantage of this gift of nature. My friend Stine, for example. I worry that she may not actually have enough sun on February 2 in order to cast shadows. But perhaps they have other rituals of weather prediction in her beautiful part of the world that they use to replace the standard groundhog. Or perhaps they even have sun. A mystery. I hope to visit one day and find out for myself.
Then there's my other friend (I have two friends) Ettarose in North Carolina. I worry that she is too backwards to be able to interpret the shadows, or to remember whether no shadow means winter or no winter. I worry that she will not even remember that today is Groundhog Day, being preoccupied as she is with waiting for her dialup to load this page. I worry a LOT about Ettarose, actually.Actually, I have more than 2 friends. I have many friends. I am blessed. And one of those extra special friends is my rocklike supporter A. A. is several thousand miles away, but we have coffee together. A. has just returned to England from France yesterday (she keeps moving back an forth in an effort to keep the law off her trail) and we may have coffee together later. Being British, she has a genetic defect that makes her lean towards tea, but I have slowly trained her to begin drinking coffee. It has done wonders for her disruptive nature.
Speaking of coffee, that reminds me I promised a concluding post about how to make good coffee.
Tomorrow. I meant tomorrow.
