Cold out there

It’s getting cold out there.

It’s afternoon as I’m writing this, the drive on which I usually take a daily stroll is shady. That means it’s cold out there.

Last week it was kind of fallish, not too cold with the leaves just right in the woods for scuffling through and listening to them rustle. This week its’ cold.

Today is the kind of day that, sun or no sun, which is shining, I shiver when I walk through those leafy trails. It seems more like winter than fall, although the calendar says it’s still fall. It’s the kind of day that makes me want to stay inside — and write about the cold rather than actually go out and walk in that cold.

Cold shivery weather.

The birds are still singing. I don’t know how they can sing when it’s cold. I just shiver when it’s cold. And how can they swoop through the treetops with all that cold air flowing back along their bodies? Yesterday I walked and watched wild ducks swimming in a nearby stream …. too cold for me. I didn’t watch them for long. I shivered a bit then continued my walk over the bridge under which the stream flows.

How can those birds … even if they are ducks … swim in that cold water?

All those wooded trails out there today don’t seem attractive. They just seem cold. And that road walk I sometime take down to the dock on the ocean would be really cold.

As I look out the window, I see a guy walking around the circle around which he walks almost daily … in short sleeves. I don’t think he walks 400 feet, but in short sleeves? If I were venturing out into the great outdoors today, I’d be wearing a jacket.

I suppose he is proud of himself, walking that 400 feet in a circle.

I’m staying in and writing.

By writing, I can still say I’m doing something …. I’m working. But I’m doing it indoors with the fat cat asleep on the table next to the desk.

But I’m doing something … that keeps me indoors where it’s warm.

It’s not that I’m afraid of those cold outdoors.

I’m just too busy working to go out there.

Where its cold.

Milt Gross can be reached for corrections, harassment, or other purposes at lesstraveledway@roadrunner.com.