December 20, 2004

• MONDAY BOOK
  

  This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland
  by Gretel Ehrlich (2001)
  

  My neighbor loaned me this book with a glowing report, and I must say exploration of Greenland would have been one of the last things I would have thought of to read about. To my relief, the author has a gift for words, as well as a fascinating story to tell. To me, it’s a great example of just how miraculously diverse we humans are in our interests. Ms. Ehrlich has written a number of books about places, and in this case first visited Greenland “to get above the treeline,” having sustained a hit by lightning that had damaged her heart. She became entranced by the story of the great Danish-Inuit explorer Knud Rasmussen’s seven expeditions in the early part of this century and decided to follow his trail. Recently, thenarrator posted a little piece with a reference to glaciers. Here is a take on them from this author:
  

  “A thousand years ago the hunter’s world was made of ice and darkness, water and light, meat eaten raw and dried, and skins–dog, seal, polar bear, reindeer, Arctic hare, and eider duck–that were sewn into clothes, tents, and sleeping bags. The seasons rocked back and forth between light and dark and the ice was always moving: the top of Greenland is jostled by 52,000 square miles of Arctic sea, most of it ice. Polynas–areas of open water–were created when surging tidal currents broke the ice, and stayed open like unhealing sores in midwinter. The land was an ocean that broke against bodies of water, shattering into islands big and small. Tides arm-wrestled pack ice until it accordioned up against itself, finally falling onto the mainland’s shore. Glaciers calved great slabs of ice as big as convention centers and as fanciful as the Taj Mahal, and these sailed down the fjords all summer, their arches, towers, and shoulders collapsing in sudden heat as if from a fit of laughter.
  

  Why would people live in this barren desolate place and, if not born there, why would they be drawn to visit it? Guess I’ll find out as I read in my warm house in Portland, Oregon.
  

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  Deep Thought: “Many people do not realize that the snowshoe can be used for a great many things besides walking on snow. For instance, it can be used to carry pancakes from the stove to the breakfast table. Also, it can be used to carry uneaten pancakes from the table to the garbage. Finally, it can be used as a kind of strainer, where you force pancakes through the strings to see if a piece of gold got in a pancake somehow.”
  Today I am grateful for: Sleigh bells
  Guess the Movie: “Forget it! I’m stayin’ right where I am. It’s gonna take you and the police department and the fire department and the National Guard to get me outta here!” Answer: Norma Rae, 1979.
  10 Ways to Be a Better Person
  #2. Judging others is easy while judging oneself can be extremely difficult. Look at yourself honestly and ask: What would I like to change about myself? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What do I have to give?
  

  Apparently not a popular topic.  So I’ll make a big judgment here and just say that I’ll never read a Time magazine again in my life.
  End of Day: 7:43 pm
  + = Getting some extra Z’s tonight.
  - = Plumb tuckered out.

  • 8:42 am
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