Baby It’s Cold Outside

Jasmine feels betrayed, and lets me know it. The morning started as always. She dashed down the hall ahead of me and sat on the sill waiting for me to open her little door to our balcony. It’s early morning and my first tasks are all cat-related: put food in one bowl, pour fresh water in the other, and open the door to the balcony.

Moments later, she is back inside, and staring at me as only a cat can - it's 35 outside. The odd ‘meorrow’ seems to ask accusingly, ‘what have you done to the weather’. She stares out the window and ventures out once or twice more before walking haughtily down the hall to lie on the leopard comforter at the foot of my bed. I keep a heating pad on low there beginning with the first day that dips under 40, just for her between the covers. I never run the central heat, so the bed is pretty cold when I first get in it around midnight. I put my feet under the spot with the heating pad just long enough to take the chill off and allow the down comforter to return my heat to me. Jasmine curls up on top of it for most of the night. She’ll visit it throughout the day as she determinedly goes out to see if things have changed. This afternoon, she'll be rewarded, as 70 is the predicted high, but soon winter will settle in in earnest and I'll be in for some seriously disdainful looks.

© Perle Champion

Sunrise

Brrr – 30-something this morning, but I walked my 5 just the same. Had to wear my shorts over leggings though for the pockets. Left pocket holds a small tablet with pen clipped to it - It’s a given that wonderful thoughts and ideas come unbidden when we walk or shower or drive. The thoughts are so fleeting that if I don’t capture them in the moment, they’re gone leaving only a yearning behind for what I cannot quite define. I’ve learned the hard way, to stop what I’m doing and get it down on paper then and there.

The same holds true for pictures, so the other pocket carries my small digital camera. This morning it was the sunrise on 17^th Street that took my breath away. The streetlights were still on, as the clouds lit to brilliant gilt-edged pinks heralding the sun. The picture does not do it justice, but I think you get the idea.