Deep Freeze… Deep in the Heart of Texas

Greetings from my office, where we’ve been living the past couple of days. Like most people in these parts, we lost power at home in the middle of the winter storm that blew in two nights back. Overnight, the internal temperature of our old house dropped to the upper thirties, just a handful of digits beyond the freezing temperature outside. 

Upon realizing that the Texas leadership wasn’t going to concern itself with the plight of its own citizens (though I hope Ted Cruz is having an absolute blast in Cancun), I took a short, exploratory drive over to my office (ever-thankful for the winter driving chops I acquired growing up in Maine). Lo and behold, the power and heat there were still operational. 

Care to come chill on my porch?

I headed back home, packed up the barest of necessities, and poured the water we’d boiled up on the stove into empty bottles (hooray gas). With the car loaded up, we headed back to work to set up camp. Having access to electricity, heat, working plumbing, and a full kitchen has been an amazing gift… we are truly fortunate to have someplace to be. 

Also fortuitous is being surrounded by pianos and my guitars, as I’ve been able to keep working, and/or distract myself from the dire situation we’ve all found ourselves in. I’ve actually had some of my more productive practice days I’ve had in some time, and have also been able to make some substantial headway on a long-form composition I’ve been writing for Panoramic Voices. Not the way I’d choose to rediscover my latent productivity, but I’ll take the blessings where I can.

Sending love and strength to my Central Texas peeps. Stay warm.