Sunny But Frigid

Oh, mercy, it's cold today. I had to stand outside pumping gas into my car and into 2 gas cans so that I can run the snowblower next time it snows and I nearly froze my hoo-hoos off. Once I got back into the car I heard on the radio that it was -3 F. with a -16 degree wind chill. Yep, felt every negative degree of that one and maybe a couple of bonus degrees. Also stopped at the Pet Food Center for a big bag of birdseed because all of the sparrows in the county come to our feeders at least once a day. I'd rather feed the prettier birds, but hey, the hawk has to eat something. The big Sharp-shinned Hawk spent a few minutes on the fence this morning and all the little birdies made themselves scarce in a big hurry. We love seeing the hawks. Here's a picture Durwood took last winter.

December 11--Utagawa Kunisada, Winter. It's just crazy being out in the snow in sandals, Emmaline thought, sitting on the Tube that morning. She herself was no where near old, not even approaching middle age, just barely past twenty but when she saw the girl's toes, pink and white, in flip flops she shivered. It was a cold, wet morning, a day for woolen mufflers and thick socks in sturdy shoes, or leather tennis shoes at least, trainers as the Brits call them, not a day to drag your jeans cuffs on the pavement and leave your poor toes out to freeze. At the museum she was enjoying a series of Japanese paintings when some detail caught her eye. There in the Winter pane of a Four Seasons series by Kunisada were five exposed toes in a high wooden sandal in the snow. She leaned over the velvet rope to be sure, and there they were peeking out at her. Emmaline shook her head. Kids, she thought from her lofty perch of twenty-six, they never change.

Brr.
--Barbara