Brrrrrr!

The forecast for today is killer cold.  Literally, in the outdoor temperature for today, frostbite sets in on bare skin in about five minutes.  Even worse cold tomorrow.  Schools are closed everywhere until Thursday.  On Wednesday every week a little group of us gathers to go to lunch, then go either to a local needlework shop or one of our homes to sit and talk and stitch.  But there’s that drive to the gathering place, and so when Becky suggested we cancel, I wrote her back: I think it's wise to cancel.  If we don't, sure enough someone of us is going to end up standing beside an inoperable car in the killer cold, no traffic nearby (who else would come out on such a day?), cell phone battery dead (the default on my phone), frostbite creeping up the fingers and toes - ugh!  I'll think about you and Tanya sitting home stitching in your warm house, a cup of tea or coffee or hot chocolate within reach, the cats dozing nearby, and you can think of me doing much the same except when I get up to throw peanuts to any crow brave enough to fly over and caw a demand at me.  Ahhhhh . . .  There is much to be said for the twenty-first century.

I mean, seriously.  Imagine waking in a cold, cold house, rising to fumble for matches to light the kerosene lantern, then gathering kindling to coax a little fire in the stove, then adding sticks and finally logs and in half an hour or so (!) the house starting to warm.  When today all I have to do is - well, nothing.  The thermostat has instructed the furnace to keep the place warm and I flip a stitch to have light.

Speaking of cats, I think Java plays a game with me when we go to bed.  She lies on my stomach or legs, and I reach to stroke her, ending by grasping her tail very loosely.  She pulls it out of my fingers then gently lashes it, eventually brushing my hand.  After a few tries, I catch it and hold it until she pulls it loose and then she “accidentally” brushes my hand again.  When she’s had enough, the tail goes still and we both go to sleep.

Today I mop and vacuum and then, I promise, I will write something besides this blog entry.