Frost heave

Who uses it: Roadbuilders and drivers in New England
What it means: An upthrust in the pavement, caused by water freezing underneath.
How you can use it: To discuss why winter makes the roads bad.

Sugarloaf Mountain is an easy drive from Gardiner, right up Route 27 through some beautiful countryside: Belgrade, Farmington, Kingfield. I don't really ski -- and the Lechners reported that the runs were seriously icy this weekend -- but I'll go back soon, I think, for skating and snowshoeing and maybe some cross-country skiing.

The Lechners and I saw Assembly of Dust and Big Head Todd & the Monsters last night. Big Head Todd did an excellent version of "Bittersweet" and a fascinating cover of "Mona Lisa," but I'd rather have listened to a full set of Assembly of Dust. They describe their music as "hick funk," and I'd file them somewhere between The Band and Bare Naked Ladies, with a lead singer who sometimes sounds like Neil Young. They're playing Portland in late February, and I'll try to be there.

It was good to be away for a couple of days, or maybe it was just good not to be alone. Solitude is a good thing and something I prize, but this week's made me consider that it's not necessarily the best remedy for sadness.

Happy Chinese New Year, everybody. Dizzy trusts that you'll all make the most of this Year of the Dog. (Not, of course, speaking culinarily.)