First Snow of Winter

Last night about 9:30pm Cynthia, at the top of the stairs, said “Look outdoors!”. Sure enough, I could just make out a blanket of white and feel some flakes as I opened the door down here. And this morning when I got up at about 6:30am, there it was, the big blanket of snow over everything. Judging by the snow on the porch railings, the depth looks about three or four inches. The wind is strong — I can tell because the tree limbs swaying and the snow is blowing across the driveway, and to top it off the temperature is 15F. So, I should be able to track animals today. However, I have a very bad cold. I noticed the sore throat by Monday afternoon, and now it has broken out all over, in the way that colds do. I can’t remember when the last time was that I had a cold. At least two years ago, maybe more.

Over the past weekend, Dec. 2 and 3, I attended Llanda’s annual International Pot Luck Christmas Party, or should I say, Llanda and Terry’s party, in Northborough, Mass. I stayed overnight at Nadim and Amy Khalil’s place in Southborough. I met Nadim around 2pm on Saturday and we chatted for a half-hour before he took Chad to his basketball game, and I took a nap. Had to rest my voice for the big evening and for my singing of “When the Night Wind Howls” from G&S’s Ruddigore. To make a long story short, I did a terrific job on the song, accompanied on Llanda’s Steinway by Steve Porter, and felt I had the group of about 45 people at my finger-tips, so to speak. Later, Llanda had me read Twas the Night Before Christmas’ and I enjoyed that as well. But my voice got real tired, especially after more informal singing. After a poor sleep and much getting up to pee, I had a nice breakfast prepared by Nadim, and then headed off to Waltham where I had a good visit with Nat and Eryn. Then I got home about 4pm, just in time to take my coumadin and atenolol pills.