~thermometers, barometers, & anemometers, oh my!~

February 8th, 2010

We hosted a party this weekend and I was quite impressed by the turnout, given the subzero temperatures and inches of lumpy, slick ice (presumably the result of plummeting temps followed by thaw followed by freeze again?) covering the ground. The path carved below, for example, is not stone but thick, gray ice. Which is why this snowman is frowning and wearing his nose on his head.

A walk to the supermarket is a cause for putting on my Meindl Perfekt Franken-stompers to avoid falling with abandon, as I did last week. I haven’t fallen like that since my first winter in New York, which was ten years ago, when I was….uh…younger. My arm and shoulder were sore for days.

In the picture below I am standing on the lake that I photographed here last autumn. It’s been a household debate what has become of those koi. Anyone want to weigh in?

At this party–quite frolicky, such a good mix of lovely guests!–a German friend mentioned that this was one of the coldest winters here since humans began tracking the weather and recording it, and that Germany had, in fact, “run out of salt” for the streets. Yup, sounds like a country utterly caught off guard.

But what stuck in my craw and resurfaced as I was traversing Berlin days later was the image of a woman or man hunched over a ledger inscribing fine numbers (such as 0 F or -17 C), the first person keeping watch, noting the comings and goings of snowflakes and sunshine in a little leather book. Warmed my heart, if not my toes. (Above: 1/2 inch icy view from my desk in the early morning hours.)