A Cold Sunset . . .

It was my first day back to work for 2014, and boy, what a jolt back to reality! The two-week break over the Christmas holiday went by too quickly. I had some fun. I accomplished some things (well, not quite everything on the list, but quite a few things). I recharged my batteries. I stayed home more than usual. I digitized a ton of CDs. I made a new photo book online. I played with my new camera. I spent quality time with my husband and the Tabby. I made a cheesecake. Life was good . . .

The weather forecast on Sunday said something about the possibility of freezing rain and/or ice, possibly followed by a few inches of snow. But the icy freezing precipitation which we got late Sunday turned into mere rain overnight, and when I awoke on Monday, the temps were a few degrees above freezing. I'd planned to take the bus "just in case," but I felt silly doing that in just rain. And so my husband and I went out on the porch. We got our heads together. We decided I might be able to drive after all.

But the online weather map showed blue smudges moving into our area right around 7 am. And blue smudges mean snow. So suddenly my husband was helping me along, rushing me: "IT'S CHANGING! QUICKLY! GO NOW!!!"

And so I leaped into the car just as the temperatures dropped. As the snow arrived in waves. As the water turned to black ice on the highway. Fortunately, as I approached town, the snow turned back to rain and the highways seemed a bit better. So I made it safely to work. Whew! You know it's winter when merely getting to work alive is your top priority!

It was strange to be at work, strange to be away from home, strange to be away from husband and Tabby. We talked on the phone, and my husband reported the Tabby was distraught. Immediately after I had left, the cat demanded that my husband show him around the house: take him into the garage (where my car wasn't), take him out onto the porch, into the middle bedroom, into the downstairs. Nope, I was nowhere to be found! The cat sought the refuge of sleep, sleeping away the hours until I would be home again . . .

And so the work day passed. I started getting acclimated again, caught up on e-mail, paid some bills, solved some problems. At one point, I felt my work day surely must be close to done . . . and looked at the clock to discover it was only 1 pm. Several more hours to go! *sigh*

While the temperatures first thing in the morning were a few degrees above freezing, they fell throughout the day, and the overnight was to be one of our coldest nights on record. By late afternoon, it was already bitterly cold, with a blustery wind kicking up. What a temperature transition between morning and late afternoon!

And then suddenly my work day was over and I was driving home, enjoying the thrill of being out in my car and looking at things again. I saw that the sky was getting very interesting and "beamy" looking, and the light called out to me to stop and get a better look. So I pulled over to the little cemetery with the gazebo to get some shots. (You've seen this gazebo before, here and here.)

I tried taking the pictures with my gloves on (I've been wearing two pairs in this weather!), but in the end, I took them off. Even in just the 5 to 7 minutes or so that I was there, my hands were FROZEN. And so, I present to you: my third blip picture of sunset through the gazebo, this one being a very, very COLD sunset. In fact, the coldest of them all!

The song to accompany this scene is a rare Springsteen track, and I'm betting that you've never heard it before. Bruce Springsteen, with a rare unreleased 1973 piano version of Winter Song.