-11º

It was -11º this morning at eight o'clock and it looked like another day of cabin fever. But by one p.m. the world had warmed to about +10º and, with the sun shining, it seemed like I should see how Como Lake was doing. NCW was off to do some loan insuring, so I set out to have a trek around the city lake. I wasn't completely alone. There were a couple of other walkers and two guys doing some winter running. The wind was a bit brisk, but I have clothes for such inclement conditions and frigid adventure. I did notice that the city fathers have put up quite a number of "Thin Ice" signs to try to keep the unwary off the ice. I'm sure that most of the lake has fairly thick ice. It's been cold enough to insure that, but there is an aeration system on the lake that keeps parts of the ice thin. In fact, there was an area near the pavilion that had open water. I guess all those signs made sense.

As I finished about three quarters of the circuit, I met a young woman in a wheel chair pushing herself around the lake with her dog, a Labador, I think. She was otherwise alone. The path was plowed and clear, but it was 10º and it's a mile and a half around the lake. I asked, "How's it going?" as I met her and she responded, "Good," in a spritely voice. I went on by, thinking that she was brave and really darned hardcore.

When NCW got back from the office, we went for another walk, over to St. Clair and through Linwood Park. It was a little warmer by then, about 12º, and still invigorating. At about 4:30 the sun went down in the southwest. It's a cold sunset, but it was pretty. We haven't seen the sun set much in a month or so because of the prevalent cloudy conditions. It was nice to see the sky light up in reds and yellows and oranges before the darkness fell.

We were in Pengilly Saturday until yesterday afternoon and it was really bitter cold there; -15º yesterday, and -18º this morning. I'm glad to be back in the relatively tropical saintly city.