Heat...

They say it's getting cold in Texas! Wonderful. Welcome, Christmas.

I've been listening to the "London Homesick Blues" by Jerry Jeff Walker. He sings "Well, it's cold here... and I wish they'd turn the heat on" at one point. And I feel sorta like that, too. Lately two things have happened to make me think about heat.

(1) Sunday night, I leaned over a candle (old-fashioned heat) and set my hair on fire. Only a few inches burned off the left side. This is one way to avoid getting a haircut in France, but it smelled awful.

(2) There is a portable electric fan heater positioned strategically over my bed. This was great for a few weeks until I remembered the episode of Good Eats where he dried fruit and made beef jerky with just such a fan. Fearing a similar process with my skin, I now only turn it on in the morning after my alarm goes off and it's too cold to contemplate getting out of bed.

Won't the ultimate irony be getting used to the cold and being rendered unable to deal with Texas in July. This is a year of extremes!