“June suns, you cannot store them To warm the winter’s cold..”
The weatherman says to expect a cold front starting tomorrow. I just bought a new hat, a wool knitted hat with ear flaps, so bring on the cold. I think I’m going to look quite fashionable.
This morning I watched leaves fall one at a time from the big oak tree by the deck. They fluttered as they fell. I watched the birds at the feeders, mostly drab gold finches, eating thistle and sunflowers seeds. When Gracie comes in from outside, her ears are cold. The other morning a thin layer of ice-covered the water in the bird bath. I don’t hear people outside any more. Winter is coming.
Winter brings back memories. I remember the hissing of the radiators in the house where I grew up and how the windows in the morning sometimes had a thin layer of ice on the inside. I’d use my nail to write my name. We always wore warm pajamas and sock slippers. For breakfast my mother made oatmeal and added milk and sugar. The walk to school was quickest in winter. The worst part of the walk was passing the field where the wind whipped across and seemed to go through every layer of my clothes to touch my bones. Getting to school was always welcomed. It was warm.
In winter there was never enough space in the cloak room outside my classroom. Winter coats were bulky and the hooks were small. I’d stuff my mittens and my hat in my sleeves then try to get my coat to hang. Sometimes it stayed on the hook while other times it was held up by the coats around it all jammed together. On the coldest days I’d leave my sweater on. The nuns didn’t care. They sometimes wore black ones with buttons.
Getting coats to go home was always done in rows. The nun would announce our row, and we’d get our coats and bring them into class and get dressed there while the other rows went and got theirs. Sometimes the nuns had to zipper coats. They never seemed to mind. I conquered zippers early though sometimes it took two tries. The hat came next and the mittens last. We’d stand in a line in the classroom until the bell was rung to dismiss us then we’d walk to the door and into the cold.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: birds, cloak room, cold ears, cold mornings, feeders, frost, frost on the windows, hissing, ice, milk and sugar, oatmeal, Radiator, radiators, wind whipping, winter, zippers
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November 23, 2013 at 11:56 am
We had such a wind today, it wasn’t strong but bitterly cold and it ate its way through my clothes. It’ll stay around for a few days andf then it will get warm again they say, I believe it when it happens 🙂 The lights are up in the apple tree now and soon I’ll go outside tio takje a photo of them. It isn’t beautiful but much better than previous years 🙂
Tonight is a cocoa night with cheese sandwiches. I dount there will be anything interesting on tv so I think I’ll read a book instead.
Have a great day!
Christer.
November 23, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Christer,
The sun was here earlier but has since disappeared. I have to go out in a bit then I’ll stay home and watch BBC America. Today there is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who special. Even Google is in on it.
Tonight there is Stonados on syfy. Boulders drop on Boston from tournedos. I can’t wait!
Cocoa sounds delicious!
Have a great evening.
November 23, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Now I’m yealous! We never see Doctor Who here now days! and You’ll get to see Boston bombarded with boulders too 🙂
November 23, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Christer,
I knew you’d have liked all I get to see today.
November 23, 2013 at 12:03 pm
The cold arctic air that hit us must be heading towards you. Winter is my least favorite of seasons. I would much rather take off cloths and be warm than have to bundle up against the cold. The worst month to me is January. It’s a huge let down after the new year celebration, cold dreary days and the only thing about it that is redeeming is that spring training is only about six weeks away.
When I was growing up in New York I had exactly the same memories of winter as you. The school coat closet, the radiator hiss and the frost on the windows. Here in Texas kids don’t get to experience those things. An occasional ice or minimal snow storm will close school for a day but otherwise January and February are just dreary cool months filled with boredom.
November 23, 2013 at 12:20 pm
Bob,
I think this one is coming from Canada and the mid-states. My sister in Colorado has had single digits temps, and we usually get their weather three or four days later. I don’t think we’ll get that cold but close, mid-20’s.
February is the dreariest month here. We get more snow then, and it’s always cold.
Kids here just accept winter as a matter of course. It makes the summers all that much sweeter.
November 23, 2013 at 1:10 pm
In Austin November and December were the Devils Weather months. It was all too often the temperature was a balmy mid seventies in the morning so as you biked to school you sweated most of the way. Then Satan would have his way with the North Wind and you would leave school in a gale and temperatures in the low forties or upper thirties. It made me tough as boot leather.
November 23, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Beto,
That is such a change in temperature my mother would have gone crazy trying to figure out how to dress us. She’d probably have made us carry coats.
I can see how riding a bike in all that cold and possible gales would toughen you. You get such a breeze from riding a bike anyway.
November 23, 2013 at 2:01 pm
Hi Kat,
I remember the overstuffed coat room. In grammar school our coat rooms were behind folding doors that had blackboards on them. They usually smelled of chalk dust, rubber shoes/boots and wet wool. 🙂
Yesterday I was out with a friend and we stopped at our favorite clothing shop. I scored a winter jacket that looks stunning on me. 🙂 And it was half price. I now own wool shawls, alpaca cape, LL Bean seriously down coat and stunning coat that is between alpaca cape and serious down coat on the temperature range.
I think I’m ready for the snow that the French Toast Report says may be coming.
Or may be coming as rain. 🙂
Rocky and I went out early this morning. It would have been a nice walk except for the wind chill and the fact that I was not sufficiently dressed for wind chill.
It’s the same temperature as it was this morning and the wind is still blowing. The sun is fainter but is still around.
Enjoy the remaining warmth and the rest of the day.
November 23, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Hi Caryn,
Our cloakroom was right outside the door and shared one wall with the back of the classroom. I remember that smell of wet wool!
I bought a winter coat a few years back but seldom wear it. Usually a long sleeve flannel shirt and a sweat shirt re enough as long as I’m not outside a long time. I do have that great new hat though.
Gracie and I went to an artisans fair though there weren’t too many. I did buy a couple of small Christmas (in price) presents and some cheese from a farm table. Outside there was a cupcake truck so I bought a couple and a food truck. I got the best sandwich. It was all in all a great excursion.
Have a wonderful evening!