Tibetan New Year

We had a truly beautiful snow Thursday afternoon. It didn't seem that way at the time. The college closed at 4:00 because of poor road conditions. I had come home early to make some video clips of lectures on carbohydrates and lipids (snore). When Hilda got back from the doctor, we set out in the heavy snow to get chicken food. Don’t ask why.  Hilda thought we were almost out, but we probably could have waited a day. It wasn’t too bad. Our only mishap was that I saw the driveway too late and skidded past it when I put on the brakes. I pulled over to let the person behind me around and backed up. I reminded Hilda of our vow from last summer to never, ever complain about precipitation ever again. We are glad for the moisture.

Friday and Saturday, I nearly drove off the road many times, but only because the snow on the trees was so breathtaking. I took a picture of the Piscasaw Creek where it passes through the north section of Beck’s Woods conservation area.

Snow stuck to the trees and shrubs yesterday (Beck's Woods)

Sunday was the long-awaited Tibetan New Year. My long-time friend Amy sent me prayer flags that she picked up in Nepal when she was there on a Fulbright sabbatical last fall. I was thrilled when I got the package. I had thought many times that prayer flags would be the perfect thing to deter hawks. They are colorful and mystical as well as a visible barrier to landing and taking off. But I didn’t ask Amy to get me flags. Her blog suggested that she had plenty to deal with—rolling power outages, no hot water, lung irritation from the pollution, etc., etc.—without me sending her on errands. As if she had psychic powers, she got me two rolls of prayer flags without being asked!

When the package first arrived, Jane did some research and discovered that the prayer flags should be put up on a sunny, windy morning for best good luck. The prayer flags are replaced during the Tibetan New Year, which began this year on February 10. Since that was only a few weeks away, I decided to wait. Just of clarification, I’m not superstitious, but I am well aware that attitude is everything. If I believe putting the flags up at the New Year will bring good luck, it will.

The weather did not completely cooperate today. Sunny was out of the question. I had morning, windy, and New Years, and figured 75% wasn’t bad. I ventured out in the blowing rain in temperatures just above freezing to replace the CAUTION tape with the prayer flags.

Here is what the chicken run looked like with the old CAUTION tape we’d put up for hawk prevention before:

Before: Yellow CAUTION tape used to discourage hawks. Bridget is sitting on the windbreak to the right. The prayer flags are in a pile on the snow.

When I first unrolled the prayer flags in the house, it seemed about a mile long. Once in the chicken run, however, they didn’t go nearly as far as I thought they might. Here I am tying the two strings of flags together.

Tying the two rolls of flags together

And around the fence post:

Threading the prayer flags around the fence post

And tied off:

Tying the end of the flags to a support post and taking down the CAUTION tape

Here’s the view of the chicken run after the prayer flags were installed.

AFTER: The run with the prayer flags installed. The girls are huddled behind the windbreak.

To celebrate the day, we invited a few friends over for Thanksgiving Observed. For the last several years, we have not been home at Thanksgiving. I buy a turkey when they are on sale anyway and cook the traditional Thanksgiving feast in the dull days of February. It was less work this year because Hilda and Dad pitched in to do the gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn casserole. I did the turkey, dressing, cranberries, and pumpkin pies.

Joined by Pat, Nancy, Chuck, Kathy, and Jane, we talked, laughed, and ate too much, just like regular Thanksgiving. An hour after the guests left, the dishes are done; the leftovers are in the refrigerator; the bones are simmering in the slow cooker for stock, and I am looking forward to a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow.