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February 26, 1997
Cold at night, warm during the day. As I drive to the cat shelter this morning I am amazed that the ponds and swamps I pass are still frozen. Haven't they thawed months ago? The Powwow River in Amesbury is still lined with thick white ice. I wonder how I stepped through the looking glass into winter.
The windows at the shelter are open. Gotta let in some fresh air. I'm in a t-shirt and jeans scrubbing away sweating like I'm doing aerobics. Jaguar is in no mood for petting. He rakes my left arm. Juliette is stoned on catnip. A huge black cat unorginally named Blackie howls constantly. He is going to his new home today. It's school vacation week so we have an extra volunteer, a kid named Caitlin. I'm grateful. She washes the dishes. One extra person makes the work do-able.
On the way home I notice the pond behind the hardware store is frozen. I continue to be puzzled. Surely it has been spring for months now. Why is there ice?
I pick up my mail. The latest Smithsonian has a lotus flower on the cover. It says May 1997 on the cover. I'm sure of it. It's May. Yes, it is. I start spring cleaning, weeding the stacks of magazines in my bedroom. I study air-sea interaction and ocean currents. I pick up Smithsonian again. The cover says March 1997.
Suddenly it's still February.