Friday Night Miscellany

COLD! It's horrid out there - end of January weather is here already. My hands have frozen at least half a dozen times, I am now ready to bite the bullet and pay $100 for a pair of down mittens, which just about kills me but if I lose my hands to gangrene, then what? Tomorrow I'm going shopping for a knee length down coat. I already have one down to my ankles, that gets pulled out for the most severe weather. It's a heavy duty down coat and I look like the Michelin Man when wearing it - I don't care. It keeps me warm. But I don't want to wear it now - what will I wear when the windchill is F40 below? I have a "qualofil" parka that covers my butt but ends about mid-thigh length - it keeps my torso and arms warm enough and it has a hood that helps protect my head (with the addition of my wool beret - a new one now since I ate my old one after the U.S. Women's Chess Olympiad Team won a Bronze Medal in Dresden - and a wrap-around scarf), but my legs are COLD, especially when the wind is blowing! Arggggh! More money - cha ching! My Christmas bonus (which we are getting this year, thank Goddess!) will buy (1) down mittens (2) down "car coat" and (3) pay balance on real estate taxes. I'm already sick of shovelling snow! And - I was ready to blow up the plow Wednesday night when we got our last 3 inches of snow - but he never put his plow down as he passed my house, he just laid down a layer of salt, which did nothing to clean up the mess in the road. I was ready for that plow man - I had my shovel in one hand and a baseball bat in the other hand - and I was ready to go after him. I stood at the foot of the driveway that I had laboriously cleared of giant ice boulders and powder-puff snow in strong winds (try that for some exercise, no wonder I've lost another 2 pounds this week, geez!) - all the way past the half-way mark so that a car can actually pull into the drive - and I waited for him patiently. ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM - he zipped down Plainfield Avenue; ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM - he zipped up Leroy Avenue and turned left instead of turning right to pass my house - he disappeared on Coldspring Road. I waited and shovelled more, and waited and shovelled more. Then, he came around the corner from Plainfield Avenue and zipped past so fast, he must have known I was waiting for him, the bugger. No snow thrown four feet deep (and tall) into my half-way shovelled out driveway. Thank Goddess! I went inside. It took an hour to thaw out, but it was worth it! The roads in the subdivision are in bad condition though; a little better tonight coming home, I think they came through again and put down yet more salt, and sometime yesterday while I was at work the plow did sneak by the house and dumped some snow into the end of the shovelled out part of the driveway - but not too bad. Tomorrow morning at sunrise I will go out and shovel it out into the middle of the road, perhaps make some snow castles - and dump water on them and freeze them. Ha! Take that City of Greenfield! I hope I tear the chassies off of several cars with my ice sculptures! Isis' house-warming gift arrived today from Bella Ling Antiques. I apprehensively unwrapped it after letting it thaw out for a couple of hours (it was on the front stoop when I got home from the office this evening). Ohmygoddess, it is just absolutely gorgeous, and I'm madly in love with it. It will be a perfect gift for Isis - I am hoping she loves it as much as I do. I can confidently say that the photos of the piece did not do it justice! It's perfect colors and the perfect size, and has just two production flaws as far as I can tell (I'm far from an expert), which I guess isn't so bad for mass-produced but hand-blown Murano glass. Now, mind you, I took it on faith that this piece is Murano glass, because that's what the dealer said it was. But there is no label on the piece and no marking on the base of the piece so identification - well, I have learned that there are lots and lots of cheap fakes out there. And even if it is Murano, so much has been made, and is still being churned out, that quality can be an issue. But my inexperienced eye tells me this piece is finely made, so I suspect that the dealer was right in calling it what she did. The color is fabulous - the proportions are perfect and the size is just right - not too big and not too small. Sounds a bit like the saga of the "Three Bears"! I am going to take some digital photos of it and, after it is presented to its intended owner, I will publish one or two here. Geez, I'm long-winded tonight. Here are a few items that captured my fancy, much as the Fratelli Toso Murano glass piece did: Spread a Little Happiness - It's Contagious: It's so nice to know that it's not just stuff that can kill you that is contagious :) This article made me very happy, and reinforces my belief in going around with a Mona Lisa smile on my face most of the time; it not only effectively hides the sag lines on either side of my mouth, it makes people feel better who see me and puts them to wondering what the heck is causing that secret semi-smile... I get lots of smiles back, actually. LOL! Climate history may explain empires' fall: This is an interesting but very short piece. I think, however, it's been pretty well demonstrated by lots of other evidence that is now coming to light (and re-examination of previous finds in light of new knowledge and hypotheses) that climate change DOES lead to regime change -- call it what you will, the collapse of civilizations, the end of eras, the end of the world as we know it, etc. etc. Hell, it's a no-brainer, don't you think? I mean, darlings - just consider what has happened just during the 20th century due to drought conditions and the gradual decimation of fragile eco-systems in our own western states in the U.S. due to the lengthening of "summer" by about 2 weeks and the increasing lack of snow pack, etc. etc. Not to mention what drought has wrought in Africa. Scientists Pinpoint Flu Gene: Well, whoop dee doo! I haven't had a flu shot in my entire life. They've been giving them out free at the office for the past 4 or 5 years and I always say no thank you! And I've been fine, while those around me have fallen to various maladies that probably are not flu but are nearly as yecchy. Oh, stupid woman that I am, I made the bad mistake of letting my doc, who otherwise is a quite sensible and pleasant person, talk me into getting a flu shot on November 28th when I visited her for a BP check and to get renewal prescriptions for my meds which now keep the aforesaid BP within the normal range. Ach! I had a terrible headache the next day that lingered into the following day, and then developed a sore throat. Since the symptoms disappeared after three days I figured they must be side-effects of the flu shot and after doing some research online, sure enough, I was right! I've learned a great deal about various medical conditions since the advent of the internet, actually. Not sure if that's good or bad... There is always hope - if we lose hope - we die - as a person, as a society, as a world: Chinese "Mice" - a Mighty Force for Free Speech (even if we don't necessarily like what they say...)