Hell has frozen over

That's been the consensus around here, where temperatures have dipped below zero for a few days now, and the windchill has hit -20 and lower. Right now, the temperature on my desktop says it's -10 and our windows (inefficient, single-pane ones) are frosted over with ice.

Needless to say, these are days to stay inside and not even Geni misses her walks (though she's never been as much of a walk enthusiast as Rusty used to be). She's content with being let out the door to do her business and rushing back in when she's finished. She would much, much rather stay in the comfy bed and snuggle up to the fleece blanket her fairy godmother titi D gave her sometime ago.

It feels like we're living in an Arctic tundra. The freezing wind hurts when it lashes against any exposed part of your skin and even my trusty little car, which has up until now started every God-forsakenly-cold morning, groans like its steering column has been frozen in place.

Almost six inches of snow were followed by this Arctic Blast, and by mid-week we could be welcoming 30-degree weather as positively summery.

In this weather, we've completed the first week of being back to at my small college on the hill, and I feel pretty good about it how this semester has started. I have three strong groups of students, and at least the first week of classes went well for both them and me. I am trying hard to become a better teacher because while I know I'm pretty good at getting them to love a text (or at least analyzing the text) almost as much as I do, I can still do a lot more in teaching them how to become better writers. I'm trying a new approach this semester, so we'll see how it goes.

I also completed the first week of teaching three classes, and the juggling of it all went more smoothly and less stressfully than I thought, so that's a good thing. And I think I might just manage to manage my time in a way that allows me not only to stay on top of my classes, but also to do my research and to maybe even read something for fun on the side, just for pleasure. On that note, I started A Mercy by Toni Morrison after I heard her give a reading of the book on NPR's Book Notes. My reading of the novel is slow going, but it's going.

On an even more hopeful note, I bought our plane tickets for Puerto Rico, where my husband and I will be going in March for a week. I'm really looking forward to my island's warmth, to spending time with my parents, and to despejarme de todo in 90-degree weather.

In the meantime, there is a certain heartbreaking beauty to our frozen landscapes. And especially when one is surrounded by this muted whiteness, the blood red of the Cardinals pleasantly surprises.