The thermometer reads 67 F, but with the breeze, it feels like -67 F. Not that the breeze is strong, but we hardly ever feel “cold” here. Anything below 75 calls for cable knit sweaters.
Dusk was falling, and the paternal grandmother came over to see through the telescope. I was shivering, and my teeth were chattering. Seriously. We saw the Orion nebula. It got so cold that I had to come inside. Dad and his mother went out again to look at an open cluster.
When she was ready to leave, we all lined up and bid farewell. The children followed her out to her car, and I asked if they were cold. Ty didn’t seem to notice until I pointed it out, and Kyle was standing perfectly stiff. Taylor is well insulated, so she didn’t notice. I grabbed their sleeping blankets, and I grabbed mine.
They looked like little Yodas (without the ears), wrapped in thick cloaks. Dad mentioned that there was going to be an ISS fly-over, so we stayed outside and enjoyed the cool air. Kyle and Taylor ran back and forth on the driveway (directly in front of the house, right under the porch light, so they were absolutely safe). Ty sat on my lap with his blanket over his legs and my blanket over both of us. We looked up at the stars and pointed out Orion. All we needed were mugs of hot cocoa.
Dad came outside to inform us that the fly-over is going to be tomorrow. Now I have time to plan a cool freezing evening covered in blankets and drinking hot cocoa!
P.S. Happy Birthday, Mozart!
