The day is mostly overcast. Here and there a bit of blue is peeking through the clouds. The sun is just a bright spot behind the clouds. It was chilly when I got the papers. It will stay in the 30’s today.

When I was a kid, I loved the snow. I’d spend a whole morning making forts in the piles left by the plow. I’d even eat my lunch inside the fort. The walls were icy, glasslike. I had to crawl through a tunnel on all fours to get inside. The main room was wide, and there were side tunnels off to smaller rooms. I remember one year my fort lasted longer than the snow did everywhere else.

The sidewalks on the way to school were shoveled, but I did have to walk on the street in a few places. I remember running and then sliding on the packed snow. An icy spot would sometimes do me in and down I’d go. Mostly I landed on my butt.

My father pulled our sleds behind his car on the street in front of our house. He never went fast enough for me.

I remember tobogganing at the Winchester Country Club when I was in high school. The hills were my favorites slides. Usually it was with my two best high school friends. Jimmy always took the back. He’d run and push then jump on and hope to sit. The hills were steep, and we’d sometimes go airborne. Jimmy often fell off.

One time after a storm I took a shovel and went to make some money shoveling walks. My friend Michele came with me. At one house, the snow was almost higher than we were tall. Michelle gave up after a while with little progress and went home. I stayed and finished. The lady gave me a hot chocolate with marshmallow floating across the top and paid me extra for going it alone. That was the only time I ever shoveled.

The morning is lovely with blue skies and sun. We’re in a warm day, freezing night weather cycle. It is in the 50’s now and will go down to the mid-20’s tonight. I’m just fine with that.

Everything is quiet. I haven’t been anywhere since Christmas, and I’ve been lolling about in a series of sloth days. Driven by a bit of guilt, I use my sweatshirt sleeve to clean as I walk by furniture hidden under a layer of dust, and I used the kettle to water a few plants this morning. That’s it, my entire list of semi-completed chores.

This is a boring week. Christmas is over. Nothing much is happening anywhere. I turn on my tree every night and the outside lights go on, but they are remnants of Christmas.

When I was a kid, if it was cold enough to freeze water, I’d go ice skating. The free rink was in Recreation Park. Every winter, the town put up a small building on the side of the field at the park and fenced in around it. A water truck filled the fenced area. That was the rink. I loved the little rink building. It had a wood stove to keep the hut warm and was the perfect place to take a break on one of the benches lining the inside walls. Under the benches were piles of shoes and boots. The last obstacle to going home was trying to find your pair of shoes.

I still have a pair of ice skates. I only use them for decoration. They hang off an old wooden sled outside. It has to be at least twenty years since I last skated. I didn’t enjoy the skating. It wasn’t at all what I remembered. My feet hurt.

It’s just about time for some eggnog. I’m going to use my moose mug.