ice day 2

Left this morning to find that the ice accumulation from yesterday is still around. Amazing. And still beautiful, in places layers thick, and in others, melting in the sun. I'm hoping I can use lunch today (nothing else on the docket: my usual Friday yoga is on "break" and I have no packages to send or errands that have to be run--a near-miracle) to go take some pictures, but I suspect the sun may have taken care of it all by then.

Much in sunlight on the drive in was gone or currently dripping. The shadows, though, were full of white glistening. Spindly bushes became crystalline fragility. I imagined walking through them might cause a sudden in-unison shattering, fragments bursting upwards, glittering balefully as they fell. Many of the powerlines were layered thick, frozen mid-drip all along their lengths.

A colleague, walking in with me, also commented on this morning's beauty. I noticed the magnolia (I think?) next to the back steps had thick buds, all of them coated. I commented to her that every year, I see that happen and say that can't be good for the tree, but every year, the tree somehow survives it, so it can't be that bad for it either.

She laughed with me, then mentioned that I seemed to have my name back. Within the last week or so, I sent an office-wide email signed "Anne, the writer formerly known as Anna" as a bit of a joke. People I don't know very well in the office have been gently ribbing me about it ever since. But I figured, since the one I was most concerned about confusion with (since we had the same job description, team, many of the same meetings, and offices right next to each other) had just left, I might as well take it back. Not that the original switch had bothered me in any way, though at least one person has since confessed that it made him uncomfortable. But: so be it. That little stint/phase/whatever seems to be over anyway, though my boss continues to call me Anna, which somewhat puzzles me, though he did ask if that was okay first. The plaque on my desk still reads Anna, but that's the only remnant left. To folks outside the office that ask, I usually explain the old potential confusion, or just shrug and call them interchangeable to me. The Danish pronunciation of my name is closer to Anna than Anne anyway, so I had gotten used to it that way, at one time. So "interchangeable" is somewhat accurate, if not the whole story.

I listened to my newest mix on the way in, and I'm pretty satisfied. A few transitions need tightening up, but I'm much happier with it now that I've discovered why the original draft was giving me such deja vu: I had included a total of four songs from previous mixes, unknowingly--three from one disc alone. I guess that proves that I like those songs, but since the last mix suffered from being played-out in my mind, hopefully replacing those songs will help this disc avoid personal obsolescence.

Hopefully.