It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Kettering Schools are off for the day, and most businesses are closed. I am glad it worked out with a holiday coinciding with low temperatures so there don’t have to be school delays.

Sunday was cold at 5 degrees around 7 PM and shall drop to 1 degree. This Monday morning greeted us with 4 degrees and our high is only expected to be 16 degrees. I ended up Zooming a majority of my local students last night, and of course, my out-of-state lessons were conducted via Zoom. I wish I could spend this day in bed.

Today marks sixty-seven years since the tragic train-automobile accident that involved my maternal great-grandmother, Thelma Daughterty Barmes. The wreck occurred at Noon on January 15, 1957, and she expired the following day at 5 PM.

Make it a great day!

Winter’s Slumber

Regina McIntosh

Winter’s slumber has me in cozy places, warm and comforted

I am grateful for the wood fire that burns, many blankets

I have So many things to help me get through the bitter cold

The wind that howls through the woods and all the piles of snow

It is the season to hunker down, giving time to reflect on past events

To plan positive things for the days ahead, to process methodically

A time to be grateful for new things and old creative talents

Still, the sun shines on many cold days, rising with endurance

As it creates sparkling stars in the pure, white, snow

Showing beauty bypasses the battles of the cold weather

I awaken from slumber on these stark, beautiful, days

Birds come to the feeder, as I watch the show through frosty windows

A colorful picture filled with songs, alert my senses to see and hear

It is a time to cherish the shelter of this safe home

To appreciate all there is when the world is cold outside

A time for rest, a time for relaxation, a time to enhance intuition

It is a contrast of kindness and bitterness, calmness and fierceness

The power of patience, granted by the bulbs, waiting to bloom in spring

12/26/23