1. Visions of Hot Chocolate
Dateline: Central Texas.
Yesterday we sat outside eating sandwiches and trying to find a shady spot, squinting our eyes from the blazing sun.
“It’s hot!” Trudy said.
Indeed it was. And she didn’t have sunblock on, which was the cause of some conversation.
Not bad for early December, by my estimation. Just the reason that I never returned to the Midwest from here.
But the winds picked up in the afternoon, and by this morning, winter had descended upon us (again)—winter by our standards, anyway: 47 degrees at 8:30pm. And tonite as we walked back home from the soccer fields with Orion climbing in the eastern sky and the dog pulling at the leash for the warmth of our humble abode, we had visions of hot chocolate dancing in our heads.
2. Getting Good at Layering
Dateline: Northern Ohio.
Of course, Ben’s at Oberlin not far from Lake Erie where it snows in the winter and where water freezes as it falls from the sky.
“Are you enjoying your freshman year?” I asked Daniel.
He was on the calling bank trying to get donations from parents. (Try me after my son has graduated I said at first, but I ended up getting suckered into a token donation.)
“Well …” Daniel said with some trepidation, “it snows here.”
I laughed out loud and said that I knew what he was talking about.
“Do you have a good coat?” I asked.
“Oh I have three, and I wear them all at the same time. I’m getting very good at layering.”
Yes, I suspect that our 47 degree cold would seem downright balmy up there right now.