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April wind

2010 April 7
by Rachel Turiel

This is my grumpy, April, blustery wind face.

And then, cracking up after being busted posing grumpy by my neighbor.

what came first, the nerdiness or the blog?

The spring winds are scouring our valley, knocking trees upside the head, whipping desert dust into the murky sky like a big whisk.

It’s been a week now since the wind arrived, flinging small children and unmoored chickens into the air. And I’m starting to lose my footing. You step outside and whap, it smacks you across the face, whooshes in your ears, and rattles the sorry little thoughts in your head. It pokes and probes like unwanted hands and then blows away, leaving you arid, stripped, prickly, anxious.

Yesterday Dan and I were in the garden choking on wind and watching the gusts roll in like ocean waves. A small whirling force of dust and dirt and pollen and seeds and leaves and hamburger wrappers pushes towards you, and like a labor contraction, there’s nothing to do but stand in the dragon-breath center of it, hoping you don’t get knocked down. Then it recedes, and you breathe, maybe even flash a survivor’s grin, and get back to sipping your beer while pulling grass from the carrot bed, grateful for the reprieve, but never fully relaxing.

I’m sorry to say I have little equanimity about this spring wind. It’s stirring up an overflowing pot of irritability. The usual crisp, blue sky at 6512 feet has been tucked in tight under this grimy, finger-smudged layer of saran wrap.

But the little people don’t stand for grumpy parenting. They hold up the mirror until your furrowed brow is clown-sized, your own awful words amplified like a tunnel echo. Their very faces seem to say “and this too will pass.” This time I will take their lead, but I’ll need lots of help (chocolate and beer?).



8 Responses leave one →
  1. April 7, 2010

    “But the little people don’t stand for grumpy parenting. They hold up the mirror until your furrowed brow is clown-sized, your own awful words amplified like a tunnel echo.”

    i always say mine hold up a mirror that reflects my mood back at me x100.

    (and let me tell ya, sometimes that ain’t pretty.)

  2. April 7, 2010

    I can picture the hamburger wrappers breezing by, very Wizard of Oz twister-like. Indeed, the best salve probably is beer and chocolate, and a few spoonfuls of homemade mayo perhaps?? (Love your grumpy wind face.)

  3. April 7, 2010

    I’m with you. I can tolerate pretty much anything the weather has to offer but wind. It’s like someone persistently tapping you on the shoulder going, “Does this bug you? Huh? Huh?”

    • 6512 and growing permalink
      April 7, 2010

      Katie – I know! I’m not one to get jostled by weather either. But this wind is something else!

  4. April 7, 2010

    Crazy Spring wind! We had a power outage, 87 MPH winds in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, ocean white caps and sandbox toys blowing to our neighbor’s yard. “Wind, wind go away, come again another day…”

  5. April 7, 2010

    It’s been terribly windy in Denver, too. It’s so mean when the sky is blue and the sun is shining.

  6. April 8, 2010

    i know that you will not be upset when i say that i definitely think the nerdiness came first ;~)

    nerds rule!

    • 6512 and growing permalink
      April 8, 2010

      Must be why we love each other so!

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