Cold As Hail

 I learned recently that is the correct expression -- not "hell." Makes sense -- Hell is supposably (I am keeping the Miami spelling) hot, right?

Well this am the temp was 45 with a "feels like" of 34. Wifey had wrapped the Special Needs Spaniel in a blanket. D1 sent pix of the boys -- dressed more for the slopes of Colorado than Miami. And she walked her skittish Spaniel -- with a doggy coat, of course.

I love it -- knowing it shall soon pass. Last night I attended Eric and Dana's Zoom shabbat on the IPad outside -- by a roaring fire pit, and some Stoli and juice I squeezed into the glass myself. Pretty, pretty, pretty nice.

This am Chris texted -- how about meeting him and his 7 month old Teddy for breakfast with the old men -- his Dad Mike and me? I was in; Mike was taking CPR classes with Loni. After a mixup, where I went to Roasters instead of First Watch, across South Dixie, we met. Teddy is so chill -- I told Chris he and Rachel chose wisely at the hospital. And he adores his baby boy, as Mike adored and adores him, and Ed, Mike's Dad, adored Mike. Often dysfunction gets passed down the generations -- here it is beautiful fathers and sons.

I came home and did the walk -- with TWO hoodies! My neighbor Martha noticed -- she can't understand how I wore shorts in our answer to Arctic weather. I explained that I come from Eastern European stock -- my great grandparents toted stuff in freezing weather in threadbare clothing. I have no idea is that is true -- but it sounded compelling. Martha called me on it -- HER background is Scandanavian, and she was freezing. Ah -- the friendly neighbors you meet...

Tonight Kenny is meeting us at Captain's Tavern for dinner. Joelle is up in Orlando at a conference. I plan on some chowder and halibut -- classic cold weather stuff, though the chowder will be tropical conch and not Northern clam.

Tomorrow evening we're going to see the new Dylan movie with one of Wifey's mah jonng friends. I was going to wait for it to go streaming, but Karen asked us to go -- so we shall. Wifey thinks Karen would be a perfect woman for one of our friends, but the friend happens to be married. Wifey looks ahead...

The weather looks warmer from tomorrow on -- but I ordered a replacement of firewood for the other cold fronts we'll get in the coming months. It's amazing -- my favorite store, Walmart.com took the order at 9 am and the stuff was delivered by 2. As Donald Fagan sang: what a wonderful time to be free...

To get in the mood, I have "Blood On The Tracks" playing on the Sonos. That album's "Shelter From The Storm" gave Wifey and me the vows we added to our wedding ceremony -- we pledged to give each other shelter from the storms of life. And there have been more than a few -- including literal hurricanes that wrecked our house, and others that wrecked our trees...

There's another great line: "Time's a jet plane -- it moves too fast." Sure enough, D2 and Jonathan got married last year except somehow it's been FIVE YEARS! They'll celebrate later in the week.

We lucked out with the timing of both Ds' weddings. D1 took place as Irma was barreling our way, and we had to flee to Atlanta. And D2's was followed 6 weeks later by the worldwide plague known as Covid19. Oh boy -- times of great tensosity, to use my late friend Alan's neologism.

Still, as I sat in the happy buzz of my vodka last night, with Barry and Donna on FaceTime, I apologized to Wifey for my happiness -- as Barry learned when he lived with me 4 decades ago, it can really become a pain.

I reminded Wifey that Tauk Tours was taking the final payment for our Danube River cruise in May. Did this blue collar Jew from LI think he would get TWO trips along the Blue Danube? He did not...

All told, the trip will cost more than the salaries I earned yearly as a lawyer until I was probably 5 years out. And that's ok -- the Ds don't want ALL the money, do they? They do not...

So here's to no storms requiring shelter for a good, long time. The chill from it being cold as hail? That's a pleasant change...