Snow, Kale, and Anticipated Football

It finally turned cold last night and after a brief reprieve this weekend, it will turn much colder than it has been in a couple of years.  It snowed about one and a half to two inches – with the wind it was hard to tell.  It piles up then against logs or other obstacles and down at the end of the drive and is partly blown off in the more exposed areas.  It was only our second snowfall while the mainland has been getting far more snow.  We’ve had lots of rain instead. Ira picked the last of the kale and parsley before the temperature plummeted.  Now the refrigerator is full of kale.  I have printed out from my data base all the recipes for kale, since it won’t last too long in the refrigerator.  We should be eating a hell of a lot of kale this week.  I crammed two large bags full after going through it all.  Took an hour. It’s sunny today and the birds are at both feeders.  The cats and I enjoy watching them, although for different reasons.  Chickadees, tufted titmouse, downy woodpecker, bluejays, red breasted nuthatches.  No turkeys yet today: a very red fox hunting through the snow, blue shadows on the garden, everything else white or black. Tonight would be a good night for a fire in the fireplace.  Turn out the lights, listen to music.  Well we did that, without the music.  Four of the cats,even easily spooked Efi the oldest and somewhat nutty Siamese.  The fire was roaring away when Xena came upstairs. Xena is the kitten we got from the MSPCA last September, small enough to fit in my cupped hands, a black & beige fulls eye tabby with gorgeous markings.  Well, she has grown and grown and then grown some more. She is by far the largest cat we have ever had, males included.  Fortunately she is very aimiable.  One of her characteristics is fearlessness.  All the other cats flee the vacuum cleaner; she finds it amusing.  Loud noises do not bother her.  Moving furniture she finds interesting.  But as soon as she saw the fire, she froze, crouched and then ran downstairs to hide.  After a while I called her. She came, saw the fire and again fled.  This went on a third time.  That time she did not go downstairs but lay down in a corner where she could not see the fire.  Finally I coaxed her over to me on the couch.  She still would not look the at fire, much smaller by now, but she seemed reassured that her boyfriend, little Mingus who is almost three times smaller than Xena, was watching the fire very contented.  I am wondering if she had some experience with fire in her alley cat kitten days. Well, tomorrow the Patriots battle the Ravens, who have always been a difficult team for them to beat.  The weather is sunny and blindngly bright but chilly and very windy today – some power outrages on the Cape. Tomorrow afternoon it is supposed to get very cold indeed and stay that way for days, never breaking the freezing point.  I hope the furnace continues to work. I am making lamb with kale and barley and veggies tonight.  Takes 2 hours to cook but makes a wonderful one dish meal.  I am trying to get all the participants that will be joining me in June for my juried intensive poetry class to get into a private group on Facebook that Ira set up.  So far only half of them are in it.  We’ll discuss lodging, transportation, what will happen in class, things to do around here, they’ll introduce themselves to each other and post work if they wish.   I am also reading poems for a contest that Jose Gouveia set up through our local Pacifica station, WOMR.  Ira has a weekly interview program on WOMR and also does little essays on Fridays.  He’s very involved with the station. There are some excellent poems so far as well as less exciting ones.