No lingering today to take in the morning: it was too cold. I hurried inside with my two papers in hand and found the house warm and filled with the smell of freshly brewed coffee. I sighed.

True to my word, I stayed home yesterday. I did laundry but I didn’t even make my bed. The two cats were lolled on the comforter when I went upstairs, and I didn’t have the heart to roust them. After all, Maddie has been doing a bang-up job dispatching mice so I figured this was a small reward. Right now they are sleeping in the sun from the front door.

The sun is bright and the sky blue, but they’re deceiving. It’s looks like a lovely day, a day to enjoy the sun, but it’s still cold at 33°. The male cardinal came back and found the feeder I had filled with a special seed cardinals like. He’s hanging around perched on branches near the feeders so I guess he’s happy with my offering. The feeders hanging on tree limbs are swaying back and forth in the wind. The birds don’t seem to mind. They just sit and eat and sway.

When I was young, I wanted snow but not rain. I wanted to ride my bike as soon as the weather allowed. I ate vegetables but those I didn’t eat far out-numbered those I did. I loved to make a mound of my mashed potatoes and would put an indentation in the middle. That was for the gravy, and I used to try my best not to let the gravy overflow the mound. I only used ketchup on my French fries, never my eggs and never on hot dogs. I loved Rice Krispies but not Cheerios. I always put sugar on my cereal. The best part was lifting the bowl and drinking the sugary milk left when all the cereal had been eaten. I could never cut the bologna off the roll thin enough. My sandwiches all looked deformed. My mother always bought French’s yellow mustard in the small glass jar and Cains mayonnaise which is locally made. I always put mustard on my bologna. My mother put small slits down hot dogs then she’d fry them until they were browned. My mother was a believer in butter, never margarine. I preferred soft-boiled eggs when I was young because it was fun to dip the toast in the yolk. The game was to try not to get any yolk down the egg cup. I usually lost.

Now, I prefer rain over snow. I eat more kinds of vegetables than I don’t. I buy my bologna sliced, thinly. I never buy yellow mustard. I love all sorts of mustards and always three or four different kinds are in the fridge. I seldom eat cereal, but if I do, I don’t add sugar. Once in a while I have a soft-boiled egg but I don’t put it in an egg cup. It goes in a bowl, and I use crumbled crackers instead of toast. My mother used to do that, and now I do. I love hot dogs on the grill, and I always put slits down the length. I can’t imagine eating them in other way.