brrrrrrrr (lyn)

I love winter.  I love being outside in a warm coat.  I love staying in knowing it’s cold out.  I am invigorated in single-digit weather.  This has been a great winter.  Lots of snow.  Three snow days with no school already this month.  This morning I’m watching the news and see the little NBC bug indicating the outdoor temperature at 14 degrees.  I need to go out.

I find my once-a-year coat, a long black shearling that is beautiful but too warm for most days.  Next  I put on my shearling hat (I never wear a hat), shearling mittens (these too, I never wear), and a pair of Uggs.  I decide to walk over to the Saturday Farmer’s Market.  It’s only three blocks a way.

I leave the house and feel insulated and warm.  I turn the corner and the wind hits me and suddenly I’m cold.  I give up on my three-block walk and stop instead at a little bakery that I used to go to daily, but now haven’t visited for maybe a year.  I start quizzing the owner’s son on the calorie count of various items. I ask him about the chocolate croissants and the apple turnovers but those he doesn’t know (and probably thinks I’m ridiculous for asking).  I'm about to leave empty-handed but then he surprises me and tells me that  the no-fat, no-sugar blueberry banana muffin is 80 calories and counts for two servings.  I buy one.

I take it home, cut it in half, and heat it up.  I make some tea and take out the book I’m reading and loving, Just Kids by Patti Smith.  I assign three points to my half muffin and settle in for a cozy afternoon with Patti, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepherd, and other interesting characters of the 70’s.