I write to you yet again from the homeland because yesterday turned out to be just the day I dreaded: a terrible snowy drive up to Monson, then only two kids showing up for class, and then a horrible snowy drive south . . . until I hit a roadblock in Harmony, where a tractor-trailer had jackknifed and was completely blocking the road, and where a detour sign pointed me miles out of my way along a barely plowed, rarely traveled route. At that point I threw in the towel and went back to my friends' house and begged for shelter. Later that afternoon A saw on the news that 95 had been shut down because of another truck accident, so I was even more relieved I hadn't tried to power through. And of course we had a great evening together: making homemade corn tortillas, hanging out and chattering. Still, it was a such a stressful and exhausting day, and I don't want to do it again.

Now it is 3 degrees and the wind is wailing outside my window, and downstairs S is clanking the stove, and I am attempting to encourage myself to get up and face the drive home. At least the plows will have been through by now, and I'm not on a schedule, so I don't have to force myself into wretched conditions again . . . though there's always ice to worry about.

Ugh. Anyway, for the moment I am warm and sort of relaxed.