I was mentioning our massive cold snap to on-line friends yesterday and talked about my "Canada hat: - a gift from a fellow ice hockey lover and internet friend. It was an "Out of the Blue" gift - no special occasion at all. Totally welcomed, with so many wonderful hockey items in it. My friend had gone to Montreal and we share a deep love for ice hockey, so she picked me up a few things. Among which was my "Canada hat" - warm, cozy and my new favorite winter hat.
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My "Canada Hat" looks just like this - a double layer of knit fabric that snugs my ears and keeps the back of my neck warm too. It's a wonderful hat, and I'm absolutely delighted with it. I should have added my balaclava yesterday when I was shoveling - my face was getting frozen. But my head was quite comfy! |
I'm thinking about winter hats because it's FRIGID outside today. Just COLD. It's currently -6F, with minimal wind. If the wind picks up at all, that temp will drop even more. I'll be very happy to wear my "Canada hat" today, along with my long parka and my snow boots. We just skated by this latest storm. It hit south of us, but missed the Twin Cities almost entirely. So LUCKY! I was out shoveling the driveway yesterday in the late afternoon and was VERY grateful that we had minimal wind and that it wasn't coming down with buckets of snow instead of the light dusting we were getting.
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We really haven't had much snow yet. In some places, there's still bits of grass poking up. But the majority of our landscape is finally white, after a green Halloween, a green Thanksgiving and a green Christmas. We actually need the snow - the water that we get when it melts feeds the might Mississippi. But, after the disaster of last year's extra long, heavy winter, I'll happily take a light one this year. |
But it's cold. Even inside the house, it's cold. We have the various cupboard doors open that need to be so that we don't get frozen pipes, but that lets cold air into the kitchen from beneath the sink. Yesterday I was finished cooking by noon or so, and I was cold, so I decided to do an automatic clean on my oven. I'll only do this in the winter - it heats the house up too much for summer (I use a faster, cooler steam clean method on my oven in the summer months). I took advantage of the cold, though, and the five hour cycle of self-clean that the oven did heated up the kitchen to be nice and cozy. I now have a clean oven, and I had a cozy one too for several hours late yesterday. Win/Win.
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I do the self-clean cycle on my wall oven about once a year or so. It has to be on a cold day because it produces a LOT of heat, but it's really nice to get the bit of grime that comes on, despite my steam cleaning the oven during the hot months. As a side benefit, it makes the kitchen toasty warm for several hours. |
So I'm bracing for the cold today. I'm wearing several layers of clothing (absolutely necessary since the shop isn't super warm with our 12-foot ceiling height), and I have my heater at the shop too. I'll be using it - guaranteed. I'm also wearing a lovely jade-set gold-plated owl that my parents bought me on their one and only cruise to the Bahamas. They weren't that thrilled with cruising, so never took ship again. But they knew I loved owls, and saw this one, purchased it, and sent it to me. It was my second year of college and came as a welcome "thinking of you" gift during finals week. Well timed, Mom! LOL
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This is NOT my photo, I take much better pictures than this. However, this is IDENTICAL to the pendant that I currently am wearing which was a gift from my parents from a cruise they took in 1974. I rather like the piece, although I don't wear it often. It brings back good memories. |
Think happy and comfortable thoughts today, and stay warm if you're in a cold climate. I'm almost ready to face the reality of a cold morning, so I think I'm going to have my breakfast, another cup of hot tea, and then gather up my things and head out. Have an excellent weekend, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. I'll be back on Monday.
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