The daily trudge managed to morph into a real walk this morning.
After five days of traipsing outside just to run the car, and/or deal with the snow, I located some even warmer gear, got myself into gear and hit the road.
Yes, I did intend to walk the last two days, but it was just too brutally cold.
So, this morning, I took the car for a little spin and then reserved some “me time” to walk. I’m still monitoring my boss’ phone and e-mail messages while he’s on vacation, so I’m keeping to a near-regular work schedule.
I decided just to head down the Boulevard today since I was uncertain if I’d make it all the way to Council Point Park. Besides, if the Park was my intended destination, and I didn’t make it, I’d be stuck finishing off those promised peanut butter sandwiches I’d packed as a snack for the squirrels.
Along the way I noticed that most of the Christmas décor is gone, and, in its place, are the Valentine’s Day decorations. Now, everything is red and pink, hearts and flowers and love, love, love. I’ll concede that a respectable amount of time has passed for me not to tsk-tsk about rushing the holidays along. As to the Christmas holiday décor still in place, many of the fresh evergreen wreaths and garlands were still perky – well, I guess you’d be perky too, if you were left out 100% of the time in these frigid temps.
During those really cold days, my down-filled coat has done its job to keep me warm, but, once again the frozen-feeling fingers were problematic, despite the temps seeming almost tropical after the past four or five days. I had even donned three sets of gloves to thwart the cold, but, I must dig some more in the cedar closet to locate my polar-fleece mittens from my bus-riding days.
I often feel a wave of nostalgia when my mail carrier is on her route on the days when we are in the deep freeze. Why? Jenny wears a snow suit in the frigid weather, so I usually hear her walking near my house, before I actually see her. Do you remember how your mom dressed you in a snowsuit and shoved you out the door to play in the snow when you were knee high to a grasshopper? First, she ensured you went to the bathroom before you were zipped into your snowsuit. Once you were stuffed into that gear, while Mom gathered your woolens and those horrid galoshes with the big buckles, you wandered around the house in an outfit that made you feel immobile at times. Your arms and legs, encased in that puffy and shiny fabric, made a loud swishing noise when you walked, but, now … shut your eyes and recall shuffling your socked feet on the rug, creating those tiny sparks as you walked. It was fun at that time, and, after you were suited up, you would stay warm and dry no matter how uncomfortable you felt, while you built snow forts and snowmen with your buddies.
No snow forts or snow men built today by me – I was just happy to get three miles walked and did them fairly quickly. I kept glancing at the sky, because, though our snowfall is not expected until later this evening, those dark and brooding clouds sure looked like a snow sky.
Once home and in the house, my eyeglasses steamed up and stayed like that as I began to shed layer after layer of clothing. But, no one sat me down with a steaming mug of hot chocolate paired with my favorite homemade cookies, and asked if I had fun with my friends, but, once those glasses finally cleared, in the mirror I could see two rosy cheeks, and, … if I closed my eyes tightly, I could hear Mom commenting on those rosy cheeks, just like she did all those years ago.
Who says frosty days can’t elicit warm and fuzzy memories?
[Image from Terri C at Pixabay]
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Why do we have to grow up? Why do ‘Moms’ have to leave us?
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I am with you on both those questions Marge, believe me. Back then, it was fun to go out and play in the snow. Today, I cut my walk short as it was freezing and blustery – and, of course I said “it is only the 9th of January – I have tons of time to get this goal met!”
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Miss Linda…………………………good for you …going for a walk………………..I’m glad you have good woolen clothes to wear…………………..tonight it’s supposed to begin snowin!g continuously……..help
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Ann Marie – It seems like I keep raiding that corner of the cedar closet more and more since I have started walking. The forecast in general is pretty ominous … that snow was heavy this morning and I just looked out the window and it seems all the cement is clear and the snow is gone – the weather folks said that will happen, but I was skeptical whether it got past 32 degrees or not, however, between the prediction of 50 mph wind and more snow, I know Winter has overstayed its welcome already (not that it was ever welcome).
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Love this post – and the photo you chose was awesome – but I sure do like when you share your own images – because I love how you show the world through your lens, Linda
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Thank you Yvette – I had to go back and read this post as it’s been awhile. 🙂 I was not taking as many photos back then and if I wrote a post, I often did jump onto Pixabay and use an image from there. Interestingly, I thought this was one of Jill Wellington’s photos as she does similar work. I used Jill’s photos from Pixabay over the years and one day I noticed from her bio she lived in Michigan. She was a former TV new reporter from Saginaw, Michigan. I sent her the post with her featured photo and she thanked me and then told me she began her second career as a photographer (portraits mostly) because when she retired, her hubby bought her a digital camera. She started a blog and used her own photos … soon she was taking photos, giving how-to lessons on her blog and the rest is history. The next post I did was about a big snow and I used a slew of my own pics and sent that post to Jill. We also share a birthday. I follow her on Facebook (Jill Wellington Photography) … she takes some very fun photos.
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how fun to hear the back story of that photo and a great example of how awesome you are at connecting with folks.
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Thank you for saying that Yvette.
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❤️
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oh and what brought me here to this post was a search I did on your blog – I typed in “hands” and this was one of the posts that came up…
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I wondered about that Yvette. I thought perhaps it showed up at the bottom of another post.
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❤️
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