two of us wearing raincoats

it was sunny this afternoon so we splashed through melted snowmud puddles to the park. jude was happy to be outside. he sits still in the stroller and looks around. his hands were cold when we left and he didn't protest when i tucked everything but his nose and eyes under the blanket. he was sleepy and the fresh and cold is making for a good night.



the park was empty with the exception of two elderly women with spoiled shiny dogs and a fat male jogger in a red sweatshirt. he was breathing loudly when he trotted past us but managed to wheeze out a hello to henry.

henry went down a few slides and across a bridge and kicked sand onto the sidewalk. he was fascinated by the geese that honked their way over the park and the hill and our house and beyond the driver's training facility and the prison and the empty fields of corn stubble. henry is into counting lately so we count everything. too many geese for counting, though.

these winter days are dragging on. i try to remember how much i longed for cold winter winds when i was hot and sticky in july, my hair in pins and poking every which way in an effort to stay away from the damp skin of my neck and my face. we had a noisy cicada in the tree outside the bedroom window. he was loud. with his chirping and the silver fan blowing over us at high speed we couldn't hear each other whisper in the bed at night. today i can hardly remember feeling hot and crabby. i'm ready for this winter sleepiness to go.