Win-Win-Winter

And you'll hear no complaints from me. I've grown to love winter along with every other season. As long as I know how to dress for warmth—and I do. Don't ask how I survived my teen years wearing bomber jackets, jeans, no tuque, no ski pants out in the frigid cold. D'uh. It's no wonder I hated winter back then. I was frozen.

Once again the day is flying by, and what have I done? Still have to get out for my walk.

Rundown: 
• read for an hour before getting out of bed; a fictional look at the life of an immigrant to Toronto when the city was being built, and a present-day Toronto family's bereavement and historical discovery.

"To belong to a place, one must hear the homecoming of birds: they suggest, in their innate wisdom, that wherever they alight is a place worth being in." -Consolation, by Michael Redhill

• wash the dishes, dry the dishes, put the dishes away
• make more dirty dishes: poach eggs for breakfast, toast up some buns, throw together a beef stew for supper; there was half a can of stale beer on Scott's dresser so I threw that in. Hope it's a stew-thing.
• talk to Shelly on the phone
• run my head under the sink in the bathroom because my hair's sticking up in every direction and a car's just driven into the yard
• run outside to accept delivery of pet food from a lady who loves cats, and share a quick howdy-do because she and her husband have no time to come in for coffee

Next:
• wash the blender I bought yesterday and make my fruit/veggie/buttermilk smoothie; after 6 months of virtually daily use, Mom's (Dad sent it home with me after she died; "What am I going to do with it?" he said. He also gave me her popcorn popper) had been leaking black sludge from the bottom of the blade carriage. Messy, and also, what the hell is that? My smoothies are the loveliest green.
• tackle the printer I bought yesterday. I don't have the patience for plugging in wires and have a tendency to put it off in hopes that Scott will do it, assuming he'll do it in half the time and with a quarter of the cursing. But of course I can do it, and so I shall, because it's good to be reminded.
• slip into the old ski pants and get outside. It's a gorgeous day! And even on the ugliest, coldest, windiest, meanest of days, when the most I can manage is a walk to the end of the driveway before the weather drives me back, the outdoors is a spirit filler. By the way, since incorporating frequent brisk walks as prescribed by a cardiologist for prevention of heart troubles—that was in June 2011— 12 lbs seems to have melted off me. You know that saying, "A year from now, you'll wish you had started today" – well, I can say I'm glad I started a year ago and kept it up. And if I can do it, anyone can.