Last night, it went down to zero degrees here.  That’s colder than it’s ever supposed to get in agricultural zone seven.  That’s the coldest it’s been in all of the fifty years I’ve lived in this house, since 1971.  It was only one degree when I woke this morning.

The wind was fierce, howling most of the night.  It kept Woody awake a lot of the night, but after a couple of nights not sleeping at all because of the pain in my back and hip after I made the mistake of going to Spaulding rehab, I was exhausted and slept for the most part.  The wind kept Woody awake a lot, but not me.  Around 11:30, a loud crash right over our heads woke me and my cat Willow, who was sleeping on my belly. I believe she jumped a foot into the air and then we both clutched each other.  Nothing happened after that. No hole in the roof, no tree falling on us. I imagine a sizable bough fell in the room right over our heads. Woody actually slept through that noise.

Woody put a quilt weighted down with bricks over the rosemary and lavender plants in my herb bed, but the high winds blew it off.  I doubt they survived.  They’re hardy but not to zero and below. They were all big and bushy.  It’ll take a long time to grow them that large and I doubt I can find the type of rosemary that’s hardy anyplace around here.  Just this Friday supper. I made new potatoes with our rosemary, as well as bought parsley and dill.

We’ve going out tonight in spite of the cold.  Our friend Natasha has come down from Dartmouth, where she teaches molecular biology.  She’s making dinner.  Her mother Stephanie, who also has a house in the Berkshires, is still here because she’s having the windows replaced. 

We’ve been eating well this week in spite of my pain from the attempted rehab.  I made a great mac and cheese we had for two nights and a spoon roast last night that will serve as the protein for supper on Sunday [since we’re going out tonight]. Earlier in the week, we had one of woody’s specialties, tuna pasta with lots of garlic and a little parsley.  Tonight, Tasha is going Chinese.

The seed ordering is done; the ones that are coming have come.  I may order a few more plants than what I listed from Bluestone.  I’ll see next week. I planned to order a few plants from Select Seeds in Connecticut, but they were out of two that I wanted, so I gave up that plan. I may just have to get the rest of what I need from local nurseries.

I’m collecting some of my unpublished Jewish poems, including some from my most recent haddagah, to send to a new anthology that approached me. I’m reading a history of the Vikings, CHILDREN OF ASH AND ELM – those were the types of wood that the Norse gods created men and women from.  So much of even program that try to be accurate have wrong.  Of course, no horned helmets – Wagner’s operas are the source of those.  They were not shaggy. They bathed oftener than Europeans of that time [except Jews] and were fussy about keeping their hair and beards kempt. They decorated everything, including even wood bowls farmers ate from – clothing, jewelry [both men and women wore jewelry] the harnesser and other gear of horses.  The halls of chieftains were highly decorated.  There is also a lot about the slaves they took and kept.