liminal

 I was on the road early Sunday morning. I had caught a couple of mice in the garage with my Hav A Hart traps and was transporting them to their new home. On Being, with Krista Tippett, was on the radio. She was interviewing Katherine May on her book, Wintering. 

Tippett: You talk about snow as such a unique and complex experience, and loving snow, even has a complex experience.

May: I think snow--what I love about snow is the way it makes a clean break. It transforms the landscape.

Everything's different. Everything sounds different. The light kind of sparkles off it. You know, before you open the curtains, that snow has landed. And, for me, I just think that's  such a gift. I know it's less of a gift if it's there for five or six months. But it's a break in the routine. It's a little like a kind of pause. You can't go about your normal business. School chucks out. But you get to see your world in a different way. And it is beautiful.

I grew up in quite an unbeautiful place, and snow used to make it beautiful. And I used to absolutely love that. And now I live in a very beautiful place, and snow makes it magical instead, when it comes.

Tippett: Somewhere you say that snow creates a liminal space, a crossing point between the mundane and the magical.

 

It was gratifying to hear someone else weigh in on what I had been seeing and feeling. May had so much more to say in this interview that was interesting. I would recommend it to anyone.

Happy Birthday to Shawn, my other daughter!