July, 2007

I borrowed HP7 on Sunday evening (from a cute high school girl who raced through it) and finished it on Tuesday before taking Sophia to camp. I thought to myself, “Aha! I don’t have to worry about spoilers, I can read all those blog entries and forum discussions and things I’ve been avoiding.” But I haven’t bothered, and now realize I’m still reluctant to read anything about the book. It’s not for fear of having something about the plot spoiled, since I know it, but because I don’t really care what anyone else thought about it. Except maybe Kurt, who is reading it now, and we should be able to talk about it by the weekend. So even though I have some thoughts on the book, I’m probably not going to share them here.

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On Monday it snowed in Buenos Aires for the first time in nearly a hundred years (since 1918). It was Independence day, so most people were off work, and ran out to play in the snow, which fell for hours. The national weather service (SMN – Servicio Meteorologico Nacional) saw a chance for snow, but thought the possibility so far fetched, they were reluctant to include it in their forecasts.

• Coverage of the event in English
• La Nacion’s archival photos of the June 1918 snowfall
• La Nacion’s photos of Monday’s snowfall
• Coverage from La Nacion and El Clarin(in Spanish)
• A remembrance of the 1918 snowfall from El Clarin (in Spanish)
• Tango composer Bardi witnessed the 1918 snowfall on his way back from the horse races in La Plata, and created a tango about it called “Que Noche!“, which got plenty of radio play this past Monday.

It is strange, strange to see all those familiar places in snow.

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