There is snow. How much? I do not know. It doesn’t matter. There is no need to wander out and try to estimate or otherwise measure things. It is only important that it is on the ground. It is only important that it remains.
Today is the first day of classes, though my first class isn’t until next Monday. But the weather — the snow, the ice and the commute, I suppose — closed the campus. Sorta? I think? It was a little confusing. Such are our times. Professors have discretion. Online classes are a possibility. Attendance could not be taken. This part seems fair, some students come from wide and far. Some faculty do too. But as soon as the university said there would be no attendance, the emails must surely have poured forth: I can’t make it, for my driveway is iced in. I have, you see, spent the last 36 hours pouring ice cubes on the cement.
I did a little class prep. Stared at the walls. Wondered where the day went, and, with itm, my energy. It’s surely out there covered in snow.
Let’s go back to Cozumel! The low there today is 73. The high was 86. Why wouldn’t you want to be there, seeing fish like this?
That is, I think, a beautiful specimen of the Atlantic blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus). That purple tint tells you it is a juvenile. Their colors change during growth, with yellows and blues along the way to maturity. This fish has some biofluorescence ability, emitting different colors under different light. That’s probably useful in it’s day-to-day life. They’re also an effective cleaner fish.
But the best fish in the sea is right here.
She’s growing gills, I’m sure of it.
The blue striped grunt (Haemulon sciurus) named for the pig-like grunts produced with their well-developed pharyngeal teeth located in the throat.
Though they don’t know much about it, experts say this is the beginning of their spawning period. So, sorry to have intruded?
Here are a bunch of orange elephant ear sponges (Agelas clathrodes) growing inside another, large, I-can’t-ID-it sponge (Unknownus identificationus.).
And here’s another look at a beautiful queen angelfish.
They don’t know anything about snow accumulation. Lucky fish.
