It's Winter, but Spring Is Coming!

"Well, Cincinnati is beautiful in the spring and the autumn, but we have so many gray days in the winter." I made the remark during a visit with an old friend, Jack Reese, who teaches at Abilene Christian University and was in town doing some research for his sabbatical project. He had called and we ate breakfast together at First Watch in Kenwood. It was blowing and cold as I arrived at the restaurant at 7:30 and left at 9:00. Still windy and chilly when I arrived home this evening after my haircut after work. But at least the sun was shining. So I decided to snap this picture of the daffodils poking through the mulch under a pear tree in my backyard. I was on the phone today with a friend in Johnson City, Tennessee, who said the daffodils are blooming in her yard. Not so in mine, which is fine with me, since it's supposed to get down to 26 degrees tonight with a high tomorrow well below 40. As I remarked to Peggy, my haircutter, this evening, "Well, I'm getting a lot of good out of my sweaters!" Yep, I've set out a wool sweater and corduroys to wear tomorrow!

The Promise of the Sunrise

The sun rising as I drove to work this morning made the most beautiful sky I've seen since sometime this autumn. I stopped in the church parking lot about 7:45 to snap these pictures, and as pretty as they are, they don't do the sky justice. Those huge cotton-ball clouds, reflecting the sun behind them--they were just beautiful.

Both pictures are of the sunrise, but the setting sun as I drove home before 6:00 was just as beautiful. And best of all, I realized, I can now drive TO work and home FROM work in the daylight. Winter hasn't given up its grip on us yet (I saw something about 27 degrees and snowflakes predicted for Saturday). But each passing day in February, and each warm sunrise and sunset, convinces us that spring is on the way!

Cold Temps, Warm Hope

This thermometer lies! Maybe it's just not equipped to register the temperature as cold as it really is outside, which according to weather.com is 17 degrees! I could get up in the middle of the night to see if it shows the low of NINE degrees that is predicted, but I'll be too comfortable under the comforter, resting on our heated mattress pad, to investigate! (We've always suspected this thermometer registers the temperature a bit higher than the reality. The sensor is high on the wall of the front porch, close to the brick--which retains heat--and near the ceiling--where the hot air rises. If you can call 24 degrees "hot," this thermometer is registering "hotter" air than the weather service's gauges outside in the middle of the cold, clear air.)
I'm so grateful to be so comfortable when so many--and some of them probably not more than 15 minutes away--are threatened by this cold snap. Like I told a friend on e-mail tonight, these temps give us an excuse to pull out the wool sweaters and some hope that next summer's bug population will have been reduced.
I wrote e-mails tonight to a bunch of people who had asked for information about our June cruise/tour but had never said, "No, not for us." I'd really like to pick up one or two more couples, but the deadline is February 2, and the info has been out since last fall, so I'm thinking the 10 (plus Evelyn and me) on my list will probably be the total. We'll see!

For the Record . . . It's HOT Here Today!

As always, there are several things I could say about today, but for the sake of keeping a history of my life, let me talk about the history-making event of today:

We broke the all-time high temperature reading for this date. The official high was 104 degrees, and I really think it was hotter than that in my backyard this afternoon. I know the temperature reading recorded by my car was closer to 110 when I drove it a bit this afternoon.

The heat lays on you like an electric blanket you can't turn off.

It blows on you as if all the grills in the neighborhood were burning full-force at the edge of your yard, just in front of a giant fan.

Plants in flower pots in my yard wilt, even though the soil is moist because they've been well watered.

It's oppressive to be outside. Do anything--carry vegetable clippings to the compost bin, move the hose from one thirsty tree to another, sweep spilled potting soil out of the garage--and you come inside sweating. 

They say we're getting relief tomorrow, highs in the 90s and highs in the 80s next week. We'll take it.

BUT, I am NOT complaining! 

I've always felt that it's bad form to complain about the weather. Especially when you have the luxury of air conditioning (or heat in the winter, or a dry ceiling in the rainy spring), and water for your plants--your plants!--and a clean shower whenever you want one.

A friend, Christy Clayton, who has served several stints in Haiti, wrote on Facebook that she was watching some children play in a water fountain on a hot day in Indianapolis. And she mused on the fact that she had encountered so many dozens, hundreds, of people who had to carry all the water they use, and they live in sweltering temperatures year-round, and the only cooler place they can find is a patch of shade that may not have any breeze. And of course they don't know about air conditioning.

More of the world lives that way than as I live in the luxury of my comfortable house. So I'm not complaining about the weather.

But . . . I'll still be happy when my flowers don't wilt just because they can't stand up to the oven-like heat that has been beating down every afternoon for too many days.

One More Time!

For some reason, this video wasn't available on my post  a couple of days ago, so I'm trying again. Why?

Because I promised the young player, Sam Blackledge, that I would post it.

Because he is a wonderful musician--for someone of any age, but especially someone of his 14 years.

Because I wanted you to hear him.

And because, as I sit in my kitchen watching it pour rain outside, listening to Sam's mandolin brightens my afternoon, and maybe it will make you smile too.

I've spent the day inside after planning all week to spend most of the day outside. I'm watching the lawn and weeds in my backyard grow, even as I sit here typing at the computer. And there's digging and replanting to do out there! I usually sit at the desk or computer for an hour or two or three most Sunday afternoons, getting ahead or catching up on Christian Standard work. I decided to do a little of that this afternoon, with the hope that tomorrow I can get out in the yard.

It LOOKS as though this video will post nicely. My mood is going to match the weather if it doesn't work!

Good News, Bad News

So here's the good news: in our yard the flowering crabapple is more beautiful and the lilac bushes are earlier than I can ever remember.
And here's the bad news: there's a freeze warning and frost predictions overnight.

More good news: top management is looking favorably at a Christian Standard monthly.
And bad news: they want more information before pulling the trigger. (Our June goal has become September, which is better than December, which was the verdict a few days ago. I guess that's a good news/bad news scenario, too.)

Some bad news: the ministerial candidate we knew was the perfect choice said no.
And the good news: we're energized by the list of names we're considering. And the pulpit committee meeting tonight was pleasant, fun even, just like they've all been. Maybe sometime I'll post a picture of these guys!

We received printed samples of our four April issues today. They're in the mail now.

A Beautiful Sunrise, a Blustery Evening

Evelyn and I had a typical Friday "big night" after work this evening. Dinner at Olive Garden and then on to Costco. After spending $189+, we now have enough grape juice, toilet paper, paper towel, Greek yogurt, cans of low sodium V8 juice, and plastic bottles of orange juice to keep a Tea Party rally going for a week. Plus coffee, almonds, a package of cookies, a huge bag of naked pita chips, and organic tomato basil soup. (The latter is a special treat.) We never really started going to Sam's Club or Costco till our kids were grown and gone. Now we have a stocked pantry of these "bargains" and no one to use 'em except Evelyn and me. Give us a call if you'd like a snack or you have an emergency requiring paper products.
The day started with a beautiful sunrise. I stopped to snap it from the parking lot of our church building. Those clouds soon thickened, and the sun was covered up, never to be seen again the rest of the day. Blustery winds blew angry showers of rain and snow across asphalt and sidewalks intermittently through the day. After two days of almost-60 degrees, we shivered this evening as we ran from the car to our Friday-night destinations.

But the weather did nothing to discourage the crowds at Olive Garden and Costco.