Hot and Cold

OK, I’m all set with winter now.

Enough of the cold, enough of the wind, enough of the little shards of ice hitting me in the face as I walk down the street…

Every day I feel less guilty about quitting my Pilates class because just getting suited up to go to the grocery store is a 20-minute workout: first the long-johns (sorry if that’s TMI, fellas!); then the second layer; then another layer for good measure. Once I get my coat, hat and gloves on I feel like the Michelin Man.

Then, every time I go into a store or library or the wonderful post office, it feels like a sauna. So off with the hat and scarf, then the gloves… until I’m back outside and realize I’ve lost an accessory along the way. In Boston, you see hats and gloves all over the street… scarves gently put up on railings for their owners to retrieve them (I set one on a mailbox the other day, figuring that if anyone would need to stay warm, it would be the mail carrier!).

At the Porter Square “T” (that’s what we call the subway here) station, artists have cast the lost accessory experience in bronze. Throughout the station, bronzed gloves adorn the escalators, benches and turnstiles.

That’s all fine and dandy when it’s actually warm enough to go outside and take the subway somewhere. One day last week it was colder in Boston than at the North Pole. I know, it’s colder in other places and I’m sorry about the oranges and avocados in California, folks. But the thing is I’m here, where global warming seems to have skipped a metropolitan area. At this moment I’ve got the heat on and the windows open (oops – that’s no good for the Ozone!). I need fresh air. I need to hear birds chirping.

What I really need is to think spring. Maybe I’ll get some self-tanner. Oh, and those full-spectrum light bulbs are great for dreary winter days. Then there's the other kind of bulbs, too, from Gardeners' Supply Company. It's not too early to start thinking about what to plant once the frost melts away.

In the meantime, I'll count my gloves and count my blessings because spring is coming, in 51 days!

Until next time,

Conna