Eyes on the Ides

Historically, today was a poor one for Julius Caesar, yet it presents as an auspicious one for me. While the ides occur every month, the one in March enjoys the greatest notoriety, by virtue of its being the day when Caesar was stabbed to death in the Theater of Pompey, on this date in 44 BC.

In Roman times, homage was paid to Mars, the god of war, on this date. While I reckon that lines up fairly well with one of the most famous political assassinations of all times, I have my eyes on a March 15th that promises to be considerably less martial.

I'm in Floyd County Virginia (an alternative enclave tucked into the hills southeast of Roanoke) visiting my dear friend Ann Shrader at her homestead bungalow at Left Bank, a loose-knit below-the-radar community seven miles outside the town of Floyd. I was training facilitators last weekend in Maryland and am en route to Durham NC for some process consulting the weekend coming up. It's my pleasure to see Annie for a couple days between pay days. (It also gives me a chance to catch up on my reports.)

Annie stores up home improvements projects for my visits and the honey-do list this time includes: a) changing out the hot and cold water supply lines to her bathroom sink; b) putting up some siding on a garden shed lean-to off the north side of her house (when the rain stops); and c) jacking up the sagging southeast corner of her back deck.

While the seasons are definitely shifting—the snow is finally all gone, the bees are starting to gather elm pollen, and I've seen splashes of yellow and purples crocuses blooming here and there—today is one those where you don't want to stray too far from the wood stove: intermittent cold showers and a high of 34 degrees. Winter doesn't have to give up officially until Sunday and it's growling a bit on its way into hibernation. Rather than fight it (homage to Mars be damned), we'll set the outdoor carpentry aside, awaiting tomorrow's brighter forecast.

Today is camaraderie with crosswords, not cross words.