Brr

I was making coffee this morning in the kitchen and just glanced over at the thermometer (it sits on the counter beside the coffee) and looked at it again to make sure I was seeing correctly. 9 degrees. And that was up against the house. Whew! We've not been that cold in quite some time.

It reminded me of stepping out on the back porch at my mom's family home when we would visit during the Christmas holidays. It was a massive old farmhouse (six bedrooms, three sitting rooms, kitchen and dining room, and three huge porches). I remember, though, one time seeing early one morning the temperature below zero. You couldn't stay on the porch for long, but it's where you got your drinks of water - there was a sink there and a single dipper. I remember nipping back into the blazing warmth of the kitchen, warmed by a huge wood stove where breakfast was a-cooking. I don't think hot coffee ever tasted better going down than it did that morning! Coffee and hot buttered toast (home made country butter too - nothing like it!) set against the winter chill.