I love cold weather. I love being able to wear nice, warm, snuggly sweaters and thick, comfy socks. That impact of warmth when I slide my arms into my down jacket is like a hug from a friend, as my body heat is instantly trapped inside the insulation. I wear turtleneck and long sleeves and feel like a walking cocoon. The cats have their own come-as-you-are fur coats, so they’re all right, though to hear them tell it, the world is coming to an end.

This morning it was down to freezing, near enough as makes no difference. I put on my favorite argyle alpaca sweater (Salvation Army special) over a tee shirt, then a heavy outer sweater over that. I was actually too warm and had to unzip the final sweater. Tootsies were a bit on the chill side, though; I shall have to dig out my winter shoes. These that I’m wearing today are summer shoes, perforated for air flow and the air flow this morning is definitely on the cool side (mid 40’s).

Eventually the heating system in my office will catch up to the thermostat setting (72°) and I will peel off the layers, down to the tee shirt. But for now I’m just toasty, enjoying the cold indoors and out. I keep my fingers from freezing to the keyboard by intermittently wrapping them around my coffee cup. I don’t usually suffer from cold hands (good circulation to extremities), and the fingers warm up right away.

The car had rime frost all over it this morning when I went out to start it up. I got out an old credit card and scraped the windshield, then poured cool water over it to keep it from freezing up again. If I turn on the car’s heater, I know exactly at which block on my journey (Owensmouth) it will start to blow warm air instead of cold, and that’s when I turn on the fan to circulate the air in the car. The windows fog up, of course, but only briefly.

Who cares? It’s beautiful weather!