My daughter Emma messaged me last night and asked me how I was dealing with the cold, perhaps the worst I can ever recall. I told her I went outside to take some pictures and that I would blog as soon as my fingers could move again.

She fired off a classic Emma line: “I think if your fingers all fell off you’d find a way to blog with your nose..”

That is someone who knows me. I love that message – she has a world-class sense of humor, something very rare in this world. (photo above, the bedroom window, 7:30 a.m.)

Maria and I went out to breakfast to celebrate surviving the last two days which were challenging in so many ways.

She had a good time, and I got pretty nervous Friday night when my camera froze for 30 seconds outside. What, I wondered, would happen to me?

We are all fine, house, us, dogs, donkeys, sheep, Minnie, and the Imperious hens. The mega hype on this one was over the tip. It was nice to be warned, but these people have to learn to breathe a bit; the apocalypse was not yet at hand.

The stoves were heroic, the dogs understanding, Maria earning her Willa Cather stripes by distributing hay,  cleaning out the pole barn administering to me who was laid low by a nasty stomach virus. nursing Biddie, a sheep who collapsed,  hauling firewood, tending stoves, and cooking wonderful bowls of lentil soup. She does it all.

You could not ask for any more from anyone, and no one I know could handle it all and find the time to read, blog, create, make, and sell a dozen beautiful hand-painted scarves. This weekend, I couldn’t do much more than lie in bed, run to the bathroom, and step outside for a few seconds to take pictures.  I don’t know what I did to deserve this good fortune, but I want to keep on doing it.

I bow to Grandma Moses; life is what you make of it. Even through all that, we had a good time. We are suckers when it comes to a few rounds with nature. It’s in the upper 20’s, what we call Florida weather. You warm people; you have no idea what you are missing. Or maybe you do.

This morning, after breakfast, we drove down some country roads looking to capture the feeling of nature coming back to life after such a frigid, even.
“historic” assault by Mother Nature.