When, oh when will our long seasonal nightmare end? Day after day, roaring blizzards have left maybe an inch of snow daily on our winter-weary town. Up in the hills, some people have reported deluges of up to a foot. It got so bad that every single day last week the Betster had to brush off a light layer of fluffy flakes from the Betstermobile.
It’s almost as if after a winter of hardly any snow, and with spring advancing like an angry brown bear fresh from hibernation, a last gasp of winter had us in conniptions. Wait — that is what happened. When the Betster posted a photo of a recent snowfall on Facebook with the caption, “Winter is not quite ready to give up on Homer,” a friend replied, “What do you mean ‘give up?’ It never got started.” Apparently winter this year is a late bloomer.
If you recently moved to Homer expecting nice, ordinary seasons that start and stop on the calendar dates, citizen, were you ever misinformed. For Currier & Ives seasons, look to charming New England, where the snow falls by Christmas and by Easter it’s all gone, with crocuses blooming and grass greening up … Wait, that didn’t work out either. Apparently the winter we expected got misdelivered to Boston. Sorry about that, Red Sox nation. As the Betster keeps saying, weird is the new normal, or as they call it in Oregon, “Portland.”
The Betster has given up predicting when actual spring as we know it will come. Next Wednesday is Earth Day, and local wisdom has it that the sandhill cranes arrive on Earth Day. We’ll see. Local wisdom doesn’t always work out, but should the cranes appear next week … OK. Call it spring.
No matter what you call it, you know things will just get better and better, because the arc of the season tends toward brightness. Rain or shine, snow or slush, get out and enjoy this amazing town, perhaps with these Best Bets:
BEST READ ON BET: Don’t trust the Betster to interpret the world’s mysteries. That’s what you want a poet for, and they don’t come much better than Lee Ann Roripaugh, yet another Bunnell Street Arts Center Artist in Residence. She opens her stay with a poetry reading at 6 p.m. today at Bunnell. Roripaugh also does workshops at 7 p.m. April 22 and 29, with a suggested $10 donation.
BEST GREEN, BLACK AND WHITE BET: That sounds like the set-up to a silly joke, but nope — it’s the Friends of the Homer Public Library’s Plant and Book Sale. Friends members get first dibs at 6 p.m. Friday (but you can join at the door) and the general public gets its shot at 10 a.m. Saturday at the library.
BEST SING AWAY BET: This isn’t decadent pre-war Berlin, but silly old 21st century Homer with the Spring Cabaret at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Wasabi’s. Enjoy great music Homer style. See story, page 10.
BEST CARRY THAT WEIGHT BET: Here’s an interesting angle to Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To better understanding the emotional weight sexual assault and sexual abuse victims carry, join the Rock Walk Challenge from 1-3 p.m. Sunday at Bishop’s Beach. Pick up a heavy rock and carry it a mile to empathize with how victims feel and put the rock down to understand how healing begins.
