“Nothing burns like the cold”
I wish I could just stay inside and admire the day through the windows. It is a lovely day. The blue sky is just a bit lighter than cerulean. I don’t see a cloud. As to the temperature, we are possibly heading to record cold. It is 11°. The high will be 14°and the low 4°. More snow is coming. The cape will get more than most of the state. That’s what I’m dreaming of, more snow, said I never.
As I get older, I have come to appreciate the smaller things like a song I love on the radio, kisses from the dogs, thin onion rings, a good burger, red licorice and real Christmas trees. I watch videos of dogs being saved and adopted. I watch the antics of cats. I figure I’m now on the back side of my life, and I want joy and happiness. I wear blinders and ear plugs, the best way I know to get there.
I can hear my furnace constantly blowing. I’m wearing layers in the house. I love that Nala is lying against me keeping me warm or maybe I’m keeping her warm. She is a sly one.
.When I was a kid, my house had a furnace, a big black metal, round furnace on one wall of the cellar. On the same wall, next to the furnace, was a small window a bit bigger than the hose from the oil truck. It was always unlocked. I remember the oilman pulling and dragging the hose from the street to the window to the furnace. I remember the smell of the oil as he pumped. It seemed to fill the house and the cellar. This is an unexpected memory, one which seems to have settled into my memories all by itself. I am often amazed by what is in those memory drawers, by what pops out triggered by something familiar but forgotten. I think the cold is rattling those memory drawers and shaking out old, old memories from the way back, from cold, cold winters when even layering wasn’t enough.
I need to do two errands. I need to brave the cold. I need to layer. My mother taught me well.
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January 30, 2026 at 2:26 pm
I had to look up “blinders”. Maybe they are what we term “blinkers”. Something to prevent seeing things to either side. Usually used on horses. You’ve reminded me of my childhood winter nights. A brother and I slept in an attic room. It had single glazed windows in the roof. On cold mornings we awoke to find ice on the inside of the glass, and a layer of frost on top of our bedding.
January 31, 2026 at 12:03 am
Peter,
I think blinders and blinkers are the same thing. The nuns I had in grammar school wore blinders. We used to laugh and say by the time the nun turned to find out who talked, it was too late then they caught on. We returned after summer to find the blinders have been reduced and were now only at the top front of their wimples. It was devastating to us.
I never had ice on the bedding but the inside of the windows would get frost. I’d use my fingernails and write or draw on the frost.