sitting tight

I emptied the compost bucket today. Straight out of the shower and so my hair froze, as it does when one goes out on a sub-freezing morning with wet hair.

You cannot tell from these photos that it's cold, can you? Looking out the kitchen window, I think -- my, a delightfully sunny day's in store!






Well maybe. Add to it a delightfully bitter cold day. (Though the birds don't seem to mind. Let me give you something other than a robin today.)






And that's it for venturing far.

Though I did go outside one other time. After a sunny (and late) breakfast (Pancakes? Sure!)...











... we experiment with sweeping snow off the porch roof. Or, I experiment and Ed photogrpahs: it takes some nimble stepping in slippers to keep off the slippery glass. My feet are smaller and my steps are gentler.





We don't intend to do this all winter long, but we did learn something today: sweep it right after it comes down, or forget about it. Below that dusting of snow we now have frozen ice. Interesting.

Otherwise -- I spend the day working hard on exam writing. Really hard.

And I work solid hours on something else, too. If you're one of those who pays attention to the Ocean sidebar, you may have noticed that there's a lot of travel for me in the next three to four months and it has required an enormous amount of time in the planning and coordination of it all. None of it is really triggered by retirement: three of the trips would have happened even if I were still working. The final one has to be done for reasons beyond my control. But the bending and flexing of dates -- that comes only because I will have the time for it.

Though time is still elusive on this day. I get lost in a steady rhythm of typing. And it is cold enough outside that I do not miss being outdoors. Not really. Well, not a lot. Okay, just a wee bit. A few more weeks, just a few more weeks...