Friday, January 30, 2009

A warming spell

One of the great things about Arkansas is that we often get real winters, snow and ice, but instead of snow staying on the ground all winter, we also get periods of relative warmth and very sunny days. Tomorrow the temperature will climb almost to 60 degrees. And the sun will accomplish more in one day than I've been able in the last three to remove the ice from our long drive.

I spent 3 sessions today chipping away at the ice on the Carnegie Library steps. Steps were an architectural feature of almost all Carnegie Libraries, as Andrew Carnegie believed that climbing steps was symbolic of the efforts required for self-improvement and education.

Tell that to the elderly and the Americans with Disabilities Act. About 20 years ago, as my wife was pregnant with my daughter, Lucy, she spearheaded a drive to put in an elevator, which required over a month of jack-hammering from the solid limestone bluff to make room for it.

Tomorrow the library will be open for limited hours since the power is still not on in most of Eureka Springs. We are on our 4th night without power and as yet have no idea how long it will take for power to be restored.

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