Chukar of Bluster

[ismo]

When I woke up this morning, I was indignant because it was after sunrise, but there was no sign of the sun. I was promised sunlight! But after awhile, the clouds cleared away, and a beautiful blue sky appeared again. The Sparrowhawk and I had a regular orgy of soup-making. We were out of bread--we ate the tag end of the last loaf in a sandwich on the trip yesterday. So first, I mixed and kneaded a batch of bread, and while that was rising, the Sparrowhawk started a pot of bean soup with a hambone we had stashed in the freezer. I went for a walk, because I wanted to make sure I got out before the sun faded. It was still cold: 16 degrees with a windchill feel in the single digits. The cold air sets off my asthma, so I had to go slowly, but it was nice to be out. The feeling of breathing the cold air while enjoying warm feet, warm head, warm hands, and warm torso is very enjoyable. Cozy. My cold weather outfit consists of wool socks, insulated boots, double-layer insulated gloves, fleece hat, wool scarf, a cotton pullover with a wool sweater on top, and a fleece jacket on top of that. Cotton is no good for warmth, I know, but it's a comfortable layer next to the skin. If I were going to be outside for a long time, I'd get some thermal underwear. I never needed warm clothes all the while we were in Texas and southeastern PA, and now I don't spend that much time out in the cold. I'd also get a real parka with good insulation and a windproof shell, but I've survived almost ten years in Michigan without one--although I did make the Sparrowhawk buy a warm coat. His internal furnace doesn't tune up as high as mine.

When I got home, I put the bread in the oven, and made leek and potato soup with the chicken broth I made earlier this week. Two pots of soup on the stove and four loaves of bread in the oven made it warm in the kitchen. We had soup and bread for dinner, and have three more loaves of bread and a lot of soup in the freezer for later. Good work for a cold day.