Finishing the statistically coldest week of the year in Minnesota is like release time from school. It seems to take longer when you know the end is near. The only positive to come from global warming is that the coldest Minnesota has to offer is much warmer than it used to be. A few days of low temperatures hovering at 15 or 20 below zero may seem insane to live with, but we used to have -15 or -20 as the high for days on end.
It is easy to feel trapped indoors when January's worst arrives. My best intentions to take an after-dinner walk around the block last as long as carrying a bag of trash to the can by the garage. I am generally tolerant of weather's whims, but enough of the cold! I hope that the prediction is true for 35 degrees this weekend, and that is above zero.
This is good weather for stitching, reading, and writing:
Stitching a wool sweater now that will be finished after this winter season ends, but will be ready in due time for next year.
Reading a novel right now called Someone Knows My Name http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-5725978-2756629?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Someone+Knows+my+name&x=15&y=15, by Lawrence Hill, about a woman from West Africa who is captured and sold as a slave to a plantation in North Carolina. The book recounts her whole life as a memoir, and it is beautifully written. My previous good read was The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-5872736-6760814?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+lost&x=12&y=13, by Daniel Mendelsohn, about his search for his family's history and especially how he learned the fate of six family members who perished during the Holocaust.
Writing my own memoirs while I still have the mind and memory to do so, but they will remain a private writing for now.
The truly adventurous have been taking part in this week's Winter Carnival http://www.winter-carnival.com/, but I am not even intrigued by the 5K race. The treadmill is good enough until we at least get into the 20 degree range.
And so, when I next post to my blog I may have some outdoor photos to share if the weather situation improves.
