Journal: 1/16/06

Oh, what a bitter cold day it was! The wind screamed all night, and when I awoke the windows were frosted over with cold, and the computer said it was 8 degrees. I shivered just thinking about it. The coffee, steaming and fresh, seemed especially flavorsome this morning. I stayed home for a few hours, snug in my warm apartment, and graded some papers. I listened to a wonderful CD of Stephen Foster songs as I worked, and I’m afraid the emotions of the songs raised the grades pretty much across the board. There wasn’t a paper that got much lower than a B+, thanks to those lilting, melancholy songs. Later, toward evening, I trudged up and down the Granite Street hill a few times, listening to Beethoven’s violin concerto. The traffic was too noisy to really appreciate the music, but nonetheless, I found it inspiring to be marching along in the frigid air with Beethoven as a companion.