a COLD Day in Paradise!

You will notice the 'play' on my last Blog - about the Gray Day in Paradise. I prefer the Gray day to this COLD Day.

As I sat drinking my first cup of coffee of the day, out of my TEXAS cup - see my Dec 9th Blog about our Texas, Thanksgiving Day 2010 trip - I watched The Lake looking as forbidding and fierce as I have ever seen it. In spite of a temperature of 21 degrees it was not frozen over. In fact it looked like a miniature version of The Tempest, with huge (for The Lake) waves sweeping across it's surface and breaking against the piers, bulkheads and Lake edges. The wind was howling, leaves were swirling and, surprise, surprise no birds were visible anywhere except for a few of the hardiest Gulls trying valiantly to fly in the 'maelstrom'.

Six hours have passed since I started to write this, The Lake is now frozen over completely, and has been for at least three hours. It is still windy, but only a gale now, well O.K. only a strong wind. The icy Lake surface has been swept clear of any sign of birds. In fact the only sign of any birds are a few hardy Crows poking around our garden and the Chickens who seem to be impervious to the cold. Question, where do they all go?

We have to venture out, to visit friends, not a pleasant prospect, except the end result of meeting with our dear friends Judy, Charlie and Jake. (Jake is their dog!) Judy and Charlie always welcome us like Royalty - it's nice to be recognised for what we are once in a while! Judy always lays out a grand meal and then we play cards. Sometimes they let me win, friendship can only go so far, they usually win. I call Judy "The fastest hand in the East", her mind is so quick that she has the card before I even see it! You can usually hear my plaintive cry of, "What was that card?", while she is busy assimilating it into her winning suit.

Well we have to get ready to go.

Bye.