Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Winter Candles



   

   It is a cold day today. It is one of those days where you step out of the car at Wal-mart and hold in against it as you would against an unwelcome hug only more tightly somehow. And walk  quickly, not running, because running is too much like getting the hug after-all.
   The fires at home in the stove burn hot with all the drafts wide open, the glasses clean and clear, because the creosote doesn't have a chance to build up due to the heat. We nurse the fires into deep beds of coals under the stack of wood we will not allow to be depleted.
   It is only January and already the ranks of dry hardwood we stockpiled last fall are shrinking alarmingly. It is a real winter for once, we say to each other, more like what we used to have twenty years ago. Which is just an old school way of saying we remember all kinds of winters including this kind and when all you youngsters have lived as long as we have, this winter will be one to refer to later. "In the winter of 2013-14 it was so cold that the smoke froze solid in the air above the chimney...honestly, if you threw boiling water out the door into the morning it would freeze instantly and tinkle as it fell."


...Or some such nonsense. Ok, it IS pretty cold; but not unendurable. In fact, some of us get a kick out of it. Makes me feel hardy in a way. There is nothing quite like stepping out on the front step in the still, starry morning when it is thirty below zero and take a deep breathe of it. No, silly, it won't burn your lungs that fast. It might clear your foggy brain first thing in the morning, though.
    How cold is it, anyway? It is so cold that.... Let's hear your earnest or nonsensical renditions in the comments.



6 comments:

  1. It is so cold that...I've been staying in a lot more, with a three yr old and a five month old, lest people at the grocery store think I'm crazy to have kids out!

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  2. Hello Ladina's daughter, I agree. Then there's the cabin fever challenge that goes with staying in. Savoring the moment helps.

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  3. It's so cold our fire froze. We had to warm it back up with the hair dryer. You should have heard it crack when it melted!

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  4. Its so cold that the other half of the world is getting in on the drama. I could do with getting out of bed to a warmer house for a change.

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  5. Don't have a comment on the cold...but just noticed your 'candle holder'...that is a nice idea...think I will have to try it!!

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