Showing posts with label Cold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cold. Show all posts

Monday, March 1, 2010

What Happened to February 2010

What happened to February? It seems to me it went by as fast as some of those skaters and skiers did in the recent Olympics. There were some major happenings on the national and world scene in the weather. Earthquakes, record snowfalls, wind, rain and mud slides. For the purposes of this blog, I won’t get into politics, either here or abroad, except to say that I abhor the extremes in words and actions and the public lies that seem to be so prevalent at present. Other than that I will confine this blog to my own personal world.

Nothing very unusual happened: snow, sleet, rain, slick streets within my small community. Altogether, we fared very well weather-wise in the midst of the February I’ll give you one good taste of winter before spring arrives onslaught. Here, it was a picnic compared to a lot of other places.

Yes, I’m still dealing with what is called “after shingles pain.” I also hit a low-energy period for some reason, not sure why. Otherwise things are much as usual. I did the things I usually do: read, write letters & blogs, crocheted pink and white hats for cancer patients and/or supporters; worked a bit on genealogy, other computer stuff; did housework - the usual cook, clean, laundry stuff [how can one person have so much laundry?]; tried to get in a bit of exercise now and then, so I won’t lose more ground than I need to; trips to the library and grocers when necessary, contact friends/relatives; check on Facebook, Twitter and keep up with email. [This is like trying to keep up with clutter & recyclable paper, it’s only temporary; it’s as futile as the gerbil going around on its wheel.] Sometimes I just quit everything and rest for awhile.

Right in the middle of February I got a year older. Oldest daughter came for a visit for my birthday and stayed a couple of days. We had a very pleasant visit and I had an enjoyable birthday. We met Russ, Jan and family and had a good dinner and enjoyed spending time together. Second daughter was too far away to be with us. We had to visit by phone. And we did miss you, Cara; as well as the other grandchildren whose working and family lives keep them elsewhere. I’m thankful to all for personal and phone visits, cards and gifts.

Daughter-in-law Jan’s eye problem was both a lowlight and a highlight: Low in the seriousness of the situation and the surgical procedures. And high in the favorable outcome, which seems to have been successful. Thank God for the outcome and for the prayers of family and friends.

Days in between have been spent doing some variation of the above.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Cold Weather Idea

What am I doing in this super cold weather? Making a hat. Why? The above occupation was inspired by the extremely cold temperatures we’re now having and the fact that the two knit hats I own, have chosen to keep themselves hidden from me when I actually need them.

I don’t like to wear anything on my head, and usually don’t, except that I did in the dim, distant past when everyone wore a scarf if it was windy, cold, raining etc. And even in this cold, if I were just dashing [if an almost 84 year old can be said to dash] across the street for the mail, I probably wouldn’t bother. But walking down to the end of my block to the trash dumpster, and especially walking back with that wind out of the west hitting me head on, I really wouldn’t mind wearing something on my head. But, alas there was no hat to be found.

That led me to look in some of the ‘closet bags’ to see if I could find enough yarn to make a hat. For the most part, I stopped crocheting years ago when my hands became too painful after only a few minutes. I gave away almost all of the yarn I still had on hand. But a hat shouldn’t take too much time. I didn’t find any complete skeins of yarn, but did find some already crocheted swatches that I had intending for an afghan at one time. So I thought, what can I do with that? I had some small balls of yarn in a contrasting color, so began putting the swatches together to see how it would work out. The swatches have been ‘whip-stitched’ together, and the bottom is finished. All that is left now is to decide how I want to finish the top and sides of this weather-inspired hat. So far, it is working out fairly well, but I would have chosen a different color if I had begun it from scratch.

Within minutes my forefinger became numb, which occurs with pressure on my fingertips since the advent of the shingles last year. Even have to watch out for overuse of the computer mouse. Restrictions! Bah, humbug! So, I probably won’t be going back to crocheting much, but maybe I can get this small project finished without aggravating those nerve endings too much.

Note: The hat is finished now; it will be warm, and doesn't have to stretch to make room for your head/hair. How will I look in it? Welll! That reminds me of what I heard a woman on an MSNBC news show say a couple of days ago. She had said something about the cold in Chicago, and her male partner on the show made a remark about looking cute. She said there is no such thing as cute in the cold in Chicago when you're trying to be warm. These previous words are not verbatim, but the gist of what was said. Children are cute when they're all bundled up for the snow and cold. The rest of us just do the best we can.
"Be ca'am, be as ca'am as you can. And, if you can't be ca'am, be as ca'am as you can." Reputedly, advice from an old New Englander on staying cool, calm and collected.