Arriving with the Vietnamese chicken dinner already cooked, along with a shrimp and bulghur wheat salad, I entered the chilly Boston condo early Friday afternoon. It was a semi-sad moment, as the Christmas decorations were still up, and the remnants from our Children’s Holiday Hour littered most of the table and counter space. I smiled weakly at the memory, then quickly set about to clearing it all up until next year. At this point the last thing I want to see is anything to do with Christmas. January is the time for clearing the slate, and a Virgo finds nothing more satisfying than cleaning up for a fresh start.
I turned the heat up and unpacked, then put all the holiday stuff into storage. There was time to run a few errands before Kira arrived.
The afternoon was frigid and windy. A brutal onslaught of cold air would hang on for the whole weekend, rendering our usual walks much less enjoyable. I hurried back as soon as possible and began preparing dinner. With the heat on, and a few candles burning, things were warming nicely. Outside, the wind blew, and I texted Kira that she was in for a rough trek from her workplace to the condo. I made a pot of tea and relaxed into the warmth.
My first few days spent living in the condo, way back in 1996, proved similarly cold, yet inside there was always warmth. The bedroom remains cooler – the bay window back there lets more air in – but a few extra candles make up for it. As does a hot shower in the adjacent bathroom. On this night I managed both before Kira arrived.
When she rushed in bringing some of the outside cold, we lamented our winter weather and location, cursing ourselves for not having made enough fortune to winter elsewhere. Still, I wouldn’t change the chance to be cozy in the midst of such a cold night, and when all you have is tropical weather, there’s no way to really appreciate the heat when it returns. On this night we hunkered down beneath heavy blankets, sipping lemon ginger tea, and making plans for our visit to the Museum of Fine Arts the next morning. We would need to dress warmly…
{To be continued…}
