My favorite typo of the month, okay maybe ever, is on Jim Greene’s Alaska Weather Calendar, which is also my favorite calendar ever, as it has all kinds of weather information not available anywhere else. In April in addition to all the monthly climate data from precip to daylight, checking it on the kitchen wall everyday I learn something new– or it reminds me of something old– or something I should do– there’s a photo of Mt. Redoubt’s April 5, 2009 dramatic volcanic eruption, on April 4 Jim noted “the only flowers blooming at this time of year in Alaska are the red cans for placing your bet on when the ice will go out at Nenana,” and this morning I saw the sidebar about how in April 2007 more than five feet of snow was cleared from the Haines School track so the track team could practice. Well, things are certainly a lot better than that on this rainy April 7. So the typo? In very find print on April 13th Jim writes: ” Welcome to the direst time of the year for most of the state.” What he meant to write, I’m pretty sure, is “the driest time of the year.” Of course with the rain and snow today, it feels a lot more dire than dry– But it could be so much worse, and I don’t just mean the snow on the track in 2007. I have said April is a bad month for me. (The poet called it the cruelest month.) On April 7, 2005 I was runover by a truck while riding my bike. On April 20, 2006 my mother died. So, those are both not so good. But, I’ve been thinking lately that a lot more good than bad has happened to me in April. For starters, I did not die when I was hit by that truck. The EMT’s — Fireman Al and Travis– and the fine folks at the clinic and Harborview trauma center saved me. And my mother’s death was not as bad as some, and she had a good life, and left me a surprising amount of good advice. I sometimes think she’s peering over my shoulder, especially when I’m hanging out with the great-grandchildren she never met. I swore I heard her say, “Never negotiate with a three-year-old,” on Friday when Caroline balked at the trimming of her little toenails. I had a friend die last April. She knew it was coming and was very brave. She told me that she would miss ordinary days the most. The rain, the mud, the mess in the living room after a teenage sleepover. Teaching school. I remember that when I’m thinking a little rain, or a dirty car, or a deadline is “dire.” Honestly. So Jim, thanks for that typo– though It’s hard to believe this is the beginning of the dry season with today’s rain and at least it’s washing my car. Also instead of reading “dire” and agreeing on this fine gray spring morning, I laughed. I also bought two tickets to the ice classic. This April 7, I’m feeling pretty lucky.
