4.5 miles
minnehaha falls and back
7 degrees
75% snow-covered
Sun, not much wind, cold. Wore by yaktrax today. Even though there were big stretches of bare pavement I still think it was a good idea; lots of icy patches. At least once, I felt the yaktrax help me stay upright. Encountered walkers, runners, one bike, dogs. One dog was with a runner and tried to lunge at me. Luckily the runner had a tight hold on their leash.
10 Things
- sharp street lamp shadows
- strong smell of tobacco from a passing car
- tinted snow — usually I’d say it was a bit blue, but I thought purple today
- kids laughing and yelling on the playground
- tracks through the snow at the park, skipping the sidewalk and taking a shortcut
- tracks on the walking path — skis and human feet
- minnehaha creek at the falls was slow, thick, frozen, only one dark and open spot
- couldn’t see the falls falling, but heard their quiet dripping muffled behind the thick columns of ice
- empty benches
- empty falls — I don’t think I saw a single person by the falls today
About halfway to the falls, while thinking about purple I suddenly remembered mimeograph machines and the purple ink on the handouts we get copies of in elementary school. Later, on a walk break, I tried to think of as many purple things as I could. I had a list of at least a dozen, but all I can remember is purple Kool-aid. At the end of my run I thought about the Vikings and how purple is strongly associated with Minneapolis because of them and Prince. Prince made me think of a local radio station, the Current, and how they pull the “purple lever” for the first snow of winter: purple lever = a marathon of Prince music.
the purple hour
12:46 am — dining room
to leave a mark, to be marked, bruised, purpled
silence, then a hollow knock, but not silence, buzzing or ringing in my ear, like static
cold air (hear turned down at night)
periwinkle, heather, thistle, lilac, lavender, mauve, grape
purple purple purple purple violet violent violence silence silvery lilac plum plumb — the depths — plump — soft plums of cloud — plume of purpleish smoke
three white lights illuminating the outlet — not night lights plugged into the outlet, but lights embedded in the outlet — they are white and bright at the top, then fading out at the bottom, giving off gray light that reads as pale purple to me — got up to look closely at the lights and realized I was never looking directly at the light, the white and purplish gray shadow were all reflections on the wall, the lightbulbs were at the bottom of the outlet — what is the real light? where it originates, or where it casts?
3:00 am (remembered later) — bedroom
closed blinds, bright moon beaming through in the form of a strange double circle on my hand in light and dark purple
a thin line of light near the closet door
*
My description of the moon light made me think, purple moon, so I looked it up. A video game developer, a type of cheese, a modern furniture company, the name of a dispensary in Oklahoma, a variety of gourmet kale, the cycle when you start your period during a waning moon, the second full moon in April, a Chardonnay, a preschool, an arrangement of flowers with “lavender roses, purple carnations, and cheerful daisies”, a band, a branding company, a color evoking mystery.
Left my desk briefly to tell Scott about the purple moon and he asked, Have you mentioned “The Purple Rose of Cairo” yet? Wow, no! I haven’t seen that movie in almost 30 years. I think it was my favorite in my early 20s — this was before I knew what a creep Woody Allen was. Anyway, I want to watch it today.
This note, “to leave a mark, to be marked, bruised, purpled,” makes me think of two things:
1
This is the light of autumn, not the light of spring.
The light of autumn: you will not be spared.
You will not be spared, now will what you love be spared.
(from October/ Louise Glück)
2
According to the second, Prometheus, goaded by the pain of the tearing beaks, pressed himself deeper and deeper into the rock until he became one with it.
Kafka on Prometheus
Not becoming one with the gorge, but striving to press deeper and deeper into it, to leave a trace/mark on it, and be marked by it (from log entry on 29 dec 2024).
Another purple thing I just remembered: on a weather map, purple represents very cold temperatures.
