“Hearing nuns’ confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.”
The feeders needed filling so I braved the cold and filled the biggest one hoping that would hold the birds for a couple of days. It didn’t take long for the word to go out about the feeder. The birds were back almost before I got inside the house. It was mighty cold outside, only 19ห, so I was quick with the seed. Tonight it will be around 7ห, a temperature fit for neither man nor beast. ย Yesterday we had another snow squall. Today we have sun and a blue sky, but the sun is useless. It is light, not heat.
My furnace is cranking endlessly trying to keep the cold at bay. I’m wearing two pairs of socks. Nothing is worse than cold feet. I have an errand or two I can do, but I just don’t want to go out and face the elements. The house is too comfy, and I’m cozy and warm.
I remember walking to school during the coldest of mornings. By the time I’d get there, my face would be bright red. Though the walk wasn’t really all that long, it seemed to go for miles and miles and take hours and hours in the cold or rain. Finally, when I was inside the heated classroom, my face would begin to warm and my cheeks would tingle. I had a classmate who lived two doors down from the school, and I envied her this time of year. She’d hear the bell and run from her house to get in line.
If we went outside for recess, the wind would whip across the school yard. We’d freeze and pray to hear the bell calling us back inside. On the coldest days the nuns had us eat inside at our desks. On those inside days, I remember the nun would put some sort of a cardboard shield around her desk so we couldn’t see her eat. It didn’t seem strange at all. Nuns weren’t like real people.
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February 28, 2014 at 12:05 pm
Wew’ve had a nice and warm day again over here, cooler than yesterday but probably 15 degrees warmer than it normally is this time of year. Now You know what my winters usually are like ๐
I went and bought seeds for the birds this morning and this time I didn’t buy only sunflower seeds, a bought a kind called wild bird mixing and it has all kinds of seeds, I’m hoping it might attract gold finches. I bought a small package last winter too and suddenly I had millet and sorghum growing in my flower beds in the summer ๐
I remember the first time I saw a nun that wasn’t in a sitcom ๐ Two of them came walking down the street and I think I just stared at them. I didn’t stare less when they suddenly jumped in a car and drove away. Never in my life could I imagine they even could drive ๐ ๐ ๐
Even today nunns and monks are rare even though we now have lots of Catholics in the country and I get just as surprised every time I see any of them ๐
Have a great day!
Christer.
February 28, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Christer,
We are in a two week winter blast of cold air. I don’t want your winters-I want mine!
The gold finches eat the sunflower and they eat thistle seed. They don’t seem to like the mixed seed too much. The small, light brown millet seeds none of them eat as far as I can tell which is why you had some growing in your yard.
Nuns drive and now most wear regular clothes. You would be hard-pressed to pick out a nun now.
There are far fewer nuns than when i was a kid. I had them in elementary school and high school.
February 28, 2014 at 2:25 pm
I forgot to write European Goldfinches, they almost never eat sunflower seeds, they must be starving if they do. But like Yours they love thistle seeds and those can only be bought on special order and costs a big fortune ๐
I’m pretty happy having Your winter for once and wouldn’t mind having them from now on ๐
Christer.
February 28, 2014 at 3:02 pm
The finches here are mean to the other birds at the sunflower feeder. They fly at them to get them to go away. The thistle is their favorite, and I have two feeders for them.
February 28, 2014 at 5:18 pm
The Cathoic church is having a difficult time attracting both Priests and Nuns in this country. It’s hard to accept a vow of poverty and celibacy especially if you are in your twenties and grew up in the MTV world. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Nun dressed in the traditional habit. The last Nuns I saw wore conservative dresses and a big cross around the neck. I think that Cathlic school teachers are mostly lay people and the Nuns run the institution. When I was a kid I always wondered what Nuns wore under that dress. I was prepubescent at the time.
When I was in high school in New York I took swimming for PE. The boys swam naked in the indoor pool which was called a natatorium. Every day we swam the bell would ring and the coach would yell, “everyone out of the pool and no late passes”. To get to class on time I had to cut across the open area between the building’s wings. I will never forget the chill from running in shirt sleeves with wet hair outside in below freezing temperatures with a gusting North wind. They hadn’t invented wind chill yet, but I know it was colder than all get out.
February 28, 2014 at 6:05 pm
Bob,
Nuns haven’t dressed like nuns almost since I was in college. My elementary nuns changed their habits while I was in the sixth grade and you could then see more of their faces. My aunt was a nun for 67 years before she died. The only way you knew she was a nun was she wore a cross.
I can’t imagine having to go from one building to another in the cold, cold winter with the wind blowing and you have wet hair and probably damp clothes as I can’t think you had time to dry enough.