During the night, the temperature plummeted, and the rain turned back to snow. We got a couple of inches, a couple of dangerous inches, just enough to hide the ice underneath it. My road had been slush. Now it is frozen. When I went to get the papers, my neighbor drove by ever so cautiously, and his car made crunching sounds as it was driven over the ice. When I got back to my door, the push knob on the storm door would not work. I pounded it with my fist but got nowhere. I was freezing. I then got a little desperate and pounded so heavily I hurt the edge of my hand, but that got the knob to work. I opened the door and ran inside, happy for the warmth.
We have sun and blue skies, but nothing is melting. It is just too cold.
Last night wasn’t a great night. Miss Gracie had stomach issues so I had to give her more of my spider plant fronds. At 4 o’clock, she seemed a bit better so I decided to try sleeping on the couch. Gracie jumped on with me and fell asleep. We woke up at 8. Just a while ago she again was gulping so she got the last three long fronds. Now she is fine and sleeping beside me on the couch. I am exhausted.
When I was a kid, I still had to walk to school in the freezing cold. I remember walking by the field at the foot of my street and fighting the wind blowing across. The layers weren’t much help. I think it must have been a bit like the Siberian steppes during a Russian winter. The cold seeped to my bones. My face was red and raw. Sometimes we walked backwards to avoid the wind in our faces. We didn’t have the comfort of down jackets. We layered. I wore snow pants under my skirt and knee socks inside my boots. My mother even bought me some pink underwear which went down as far as my knees. I wore a hat, a knitted one which tied under my chin. Winter was the bulky season.
Watching the news, I saw a man commenting about the foot of new snow in Boston. He was asked about walking on sidewalks and the street. He said it was treachery. I thought about it for a bit and decided he might just be right.
