Thursday, January 15, 2009

From Santa Cruz at +76F to Paradox at -35F

As I make this entry at 11:45pm on Thursday, the 15th of January, at home in Paradox, the temperature is minus 34.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday, and the day before, as we were leaving Santa Cruz, the temperature reached a high of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. That is 110+ degrees difference for those of you who don't want to do the math yourselves. It was beautiful in Santa Cruz. The last few days were like late May in the Adirondacks during a hot spell. Temperature in the mid 70s with green grass and early flowers - day lilies, and early irises in bloom - sun hot on the face and arms, and the smell of spring. We were aware that a cold snap was brewing in the Northeast and were dreading coming back.
Once we got here, though, we felt very at home with the comfort of the familiar. The sharpness of the snow, the brightness of the light, the smell of woodsmoke, winter squash cooking on the stove with hot steam rising, the log cabin. Home is a salve. Maybe a salve needed after shoveling a path to the front door and to the woodpile. Tovah said that the stars were 'twinkling' tonight when she talked to us on the phone. Twinkling stars go with the sharp crunch of the snow walking on the path to the woodpile for the last armload at night.
So, it got down to -34.8F early this morning (1/16/09) for a total difference of 110F between Santa Cruz and Paradox over these past few days.

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