Tag: winter

Weather

We have some freezing weather going on right now, through most of tomorrow, and then again tomorrow night. Specifically, hard freeze weather. The low tonight is -7°C, plus the wind chill. And Houston isn’t made for such weather. A touch below freezing, sure. But a hard freeze is very hard for Houston buildings and roads.

Deer God, please, keep us all safe, especially the next few days with this weather. Please, grant us spectacular weather next Tuesday afternoon, evening, and night. Please. Help us to fulfill the calls we have had toward being our best selves and having fun through your love and your gifts and blessings in life. Thank you for this life and my man. Keep us well and safe and happily together, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Welcome to November

And thus the Winter and Christmas season begin. ❤

We celebrated with sitting together on the sofa and drinking eggnog, just being together. No TV or music or anything – just the two of us. And the dog, looking for scraps. 😛

Super grateful that it also happened to be cold today, and it was sunny!

Thank you, God, for your many blessings! Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

White

My skin has gotten so dried out that it truly had a layer of white on top… the dead skin cells, I suppose, that did not get their needed hydration (or, rather, were stripped of that hydration by soap and dry winter air).

Guess I really ought to be better about putting the oils on after showering now, when my skin is still all wet from the shower. I’ve just been so focused on my hands not getting all bloody, everything else with my skin has kind of taken a back burner… :/

Post-a-day 2022

Silly divine moments

We went to the opera tonight, and the show was a first-time opera of the children’s book A Snowy Day. In it, young Peter goes out to play in the snow all on his own for once. For the production tonight, he had to take off his pajamas and dress in the outdoor winter gear, in order to go play outside for the day. Watching that scene play out, I was reminded of one of my own favorite little oddities.

You see, I love – and no, I don’t know why – putting on a winter coat etc. over my pajamas and going out. In Japan, it happened regularly, either to take out the trash or to go see Fuji-San from atop the hill next to my apartment, late at night. I think I might even have done it one night just to go sneak some rosemary from a neighbor’s massive growth all along the side of his house, and also to go to the 7/11 down the street.

There’s just something about the contrast of it all that I love. Warm, cozy pajama-wear, with no bra, closed into a warm and cozy coat and scarf (and probably hat, too), wool socks slid into my big green rain boots… and then stepping outside into the cold, cold air, usually at night, always post-shower. Those were the times… haha… and I don’t even know why. But I don’t care. They were wonderful, and I am grateful for them. I look forward to the next time I have such an opportunity (as Houston has quite few cold nights in the first place).

Post-a-day 2021

Way too cold in the bathroom*

One of the greatest experiences of my life is still, on those cold nights in Japan, snuggling into my bed on the floor, the lamp on beside me, next to my book of the moment, and curling into my comforter and wool sheets (sheets, of course, brought from the US for my Ikea full-sized mattress) and fancy, cool-warm pillow (due to the memory foam and the intentionally not-wool pillowcase), after touching the tatami floor with my fingers and through my socks when rushing to the mattress, and shivering that initial full-body shiver as it begins its efforts newly to warm itself. Those moments of first relaxation, cuddled up like that in my bed, so lovingly and cozily held, those are some of my absolute favorite and most fulfilling moments of experience. It is as though, despite all the struggles and pains and aches of the day, as well as those yet to come, those warm and loving arms of my bed were there for me, ready and willing and able to hug and to hold me exactly as I needed, and whether I’d known it or not beforehand.

So, the cold and bitter winter bring back some of the best of memories.

*Which is why they sell the toilet seat stick-ons everywhere for wintertime use. And, of course, they are all different patterns on the fabrics, so they are included in the ridiculously cute nonsense known by all in Japan.

Post-a-day 2021

Beach fog

My mom and I went for a walk on the beach this afternoon/evening, as a way of closing out the daytime for today. Although bidding farewell-until-the-morrow to a sun that hasn’t been technically visible all day is a bit odd, it didn’t stop us.

The fog, however, almost did.

I had measured distances to various things yesterday, and we found today that a certain spot that was .19 miles away, straight up the beach, was not visible. That set the visibility at about .18 miles this evening.

It was almost spooky, but that it didn’t feel spooky; it just looked it.

See how the world just seems to end? The typically seemingly infinite beach is short; it is blocked by fog.

An unexpected result of this walk on the beach, however, came after about twenty minutes of walking.

I turned to my mom, and, seeing her hair soaked, asked her what on Earth she had done – it looked like she’d been splashed by a wave. Seeing as how she’d been seeking and picking up seashells, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she had been splashed by a wave while picking up something. However, she replied that she hadn’t done that, hadn’t had that happen. So, what was the deal, then? Why was her hair soaked?

That’s how thick and dense this fog was – it was clinging to her hair, soaking it. I asked if mine was the same, and she said it was.

We took a picture to document the absurdity of our walk on a not-rainy day at the beach. By the time we were walking home, we were wiping soaking wet eyebrows and eyelashes, too.

Post-a-day 2021

^Whoo! Just barely!

Food for Thought… or naught(y)

I have just had another few sips/gulps from my freshly-made berry-veggie smoothie.  It is delicious.  But it is not fulfilling what my body needs, somehow – it is not entirely what I want.  It has helped, but it is not sufficient.

As I walk into the pantry, I sigh and ask aloud, “What do I want?… Ugh… I want….” My arms have moved outward and curved downward as the end to the last sentence.  In my peripheral vision, I see that my hands are cupping gently and loosely the area just in front of my pelvis, in front of my uterus and groin.  I say, without having thought about it, “I want warm sex?” and then give a soft snort-sigh at the absurdity of my statement.  I am here for food.  That isn’t food.

Hmm…

Is it?

I consider this a few moments, and then jump further into the absurd: What food is warm, satisfying sex?, I ask myself in my head, as though there were a cookbook somewhere with this information listed, and I am aiming to recall what foods are on the list, like proteins or vitamin-B-rich foods.

To my astonishment, after a few moments, I say, “A soupy broth, poured over a pile…bowl of deeply spiced, veggie-filled, hot quinoa.  Hot.”

Yeah, my thoughts tell me, that’s it.

And I think they must be right.  After all, they are the ones who came up with the concept in the first place.

I guess I’m having hot sex… for dinner tonight…?

(If that isn’t roflcopter, I’m not sure what is.)

Post-a-day 2021

^So fantastically easy, I almost forgot even to comment on it or notice!

Sleepover

I’m staying the night at the house of of a family whose child I have been tutoring/teaching privately for the past nine-ish months. With the weather so cold and the complete lack of water at my place, I was tired of the stress of the strain it all involved. Plus, because of the power outages, we hadn’t been able to do our regular tutoring this week, and so were getting behind on some work for an online course that has a deadline. So, I accepted the offer to spend the night here and have food cooked for me a few times, in exchange for tutoring in person for several hours (broken up over the time I am here, of course).

It really is magical being able to flush toilets. I might shiver with delight when I take an actual shower, and with hot water nonetheless, in just a few minutes. I can hardly wait.

Plus, the company has been quite nice… I have really missed just having people around, let alone interacting with them.

However, I was sure to get a lot done at home tidying before coming over late this afternoon. We figured it would be easier for me to stay the night here than at my house, anyway, so we could maximize on my time by my working at home on the tidying – no excuses! 😉 – for most of the day, and then coming later here. Then we could work again in the morning before I go back to my place – fingers crossed – to meet the plumber and see if the water can be fixed. But I am extremely grateful that I was able to accomplish all I did tidying today, especially with circumstances considered. I have reading to do before the next section of tidying, so I will do that tomorrow morning, when I am up likely long before my young squire, so I can be ready for the next set of tidying when I get home tomorrow, and can get right to work(!).

Let’s see how these next 24 hours go, shall we?

(Indeed, we shall.)

Post-a-day 2021

^Easy Peasy!