Welcome to the Deep Freeze

I just looked at the thermometer that lives in the windowsill--it's zero, a nice, fat, round ZERO degrees out there.  Oh, excuse me, it's 0.1 degrees, it warmed up.  Durwood wanted to know if we still have the space heater so I can take it to work with me but I assured him that there's one there and I'll take a lap blanket to foil any drafts under the desk plus I'll be wearing all manner of warm and woolly garb, and I have a lot of it.  I remembered to dial up the warm and turn the car fan on High when I moved it into the driveway yesterday so I can remotely start the car before I leave so it warms up a bit.  I promise to remember, cross my heart.  I just heard that the wind chill is -34; I didn't really need to know that.  Oatmeal for breakfast today and lentil soup for lunch.

DS and DIL1 came over to exchange gifts yesterday around noon.  I got an Amazon gift card and Durwood's is for Cook's Corner (danger!  danger, Will Robinson!) both of which are exactly right.  We can't wait to decide what goodies to buy.  They liked their gifts too.  The biggest gift for all of us (but especially for DIL1) would be the end of the baby-wait, which doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon.  Porter came over too, she was ecstatic about the squirrels at the feeders and birdbath.  She had her ears and tail at attention and ran from patio doors to living room as if to say, "hey, you guys, there's critters out there" and "can they come in and play? can I go out??"  She even barked once, and she NEVER barks.  She barks so seldom that I know that was the third time I've heard her, it was the first time for Durwood.  In about fifteen minutes she tired herself out with excitement and had to lay down for a snooze.  Too funny.  I'd made some pumpkin vanilla pudding for a snack which turned out pretty darned good.

I made lentil & ham soup with kale for lunches in the afternoon and goofed off reading or listening to books the rest of the time.  It was that kind of day.  Oh, I folded a basket of clean laundry and put it away.  Didn't break a sweat, didn't sew, didn't knit, just chilled.  Ahhh.  A goldfinch stopped by the feeder and I was amazed to see that it was actually bright yellow under its chin.  Usually they're a brownish yellow this time of year, must be confused.

December 30--Walker Evans, Floyd and Lucille Burroughs on Porch, Hale County, Alabama.  Cele had to have a porch.  She felt like a porch was a buffer between herself and the world.  From her porch she could watch the comings and goings of the neighbors.  Once the weather warmed up she practically lived out there.  She had her rocking chair and she'd hired an electrician to put a ceiling fan up for the days when the breeze came from the east.  One of the neighbor kids started coming over with her book and settling in the swing on hot summer afternoons.  The two of them rarely spoke but sat in companionable silence sipping glasses of tea and traveling in their imaginations.

It's time to stir up a cauldron of oatmeal so I can survive the trip to work.  We set a new temperature record overnight, -19 degrees!  Woohoo, go us!  Makes zero seem almost balmy.  Maybe I'll wear an extra layer of socks.  Bundle up.
--Barbara