Wind! Chill!

We have a confession to make: for the next week or so, we won't be reporting much on outside happenings. The current temperatures are in the low single digits and the wind is howling in gusts. The windchill is about -20℉. Walking the dogs today was a real treat! St. Paul's Winter Carnival has  rescheduled or canceled some events due to cold weather! If it's too cold for the Vulcans, it's obviously too cold for us.

a fly box of mostly bead-headed nymphs

Photo by J. Harrington

Fortunately, in addition to several stacks of unread books, and a number or artisan bread baking variations we want to try, we have lots and lots of fly-fishing gear that needs to be organized. This morning we worked with a high-hydration recipe for sourdough bread and (almost) filled a new fly box with "Thank you!" gifts of seasonal fly assortments from Trout Unlimited. We actually had fun sorting out the flies and sliding them into slots in the fly box. Even though there was a Winter assortment, Winter weather conditions will need to be much improved before those flies see flowing water.

We still remember one Winter trip years ago. We wore felt-soled wading boots at the time and, hiking through a snow covered field to get to the stream, we kept collecting layers of sticky snow on the bottoms of our boots. By the time we reached the stream, it felt as though we were walking on stilts, even though the snow accumulated on our felt soles was probably only about four inches thick. Wet, sticky snow should tell you that the temperatures were much warmer than today. The fact that we were out playing with a fly rod tells you that the wind was close to nonexistent. Now you know about at least some of what we're looking forward to later this year.

artisan sourdough bread from chilled dough

Photo by J. Harrington

For now, we're anticipating having risen dough tomorrow morning. The dough will go into a preheated cloche and into the oven sometime tomorrow. We're learning that putting dough that's risen in the refrigerator into a preheated cloche yields well-baked bread with a crust that's not overbaked (too dark). The house will fill with the aroma of baking bread and the oven's heat will temper the wind and cold. While the finished bread cools on the counter, we'll stare at a couple of fly boxes and dream of warmer times. We might even concede that Spring and Summer days aren't necessarily better, just very, very different.

Wash of Cold River

By H. D.

Wash of cold river

in a glacial land,

Ionian water,

chill, snow-ribbed sand,

drift of rare flowers,

clear, with delicate shell-

like leaf enclosing

frozen lily-leaf,

camellia texture,

colder than a rose;

wind-flower

that keeps the breath

of the north-wind—

these and none other;

intimate thoughts and kind

reach out to share

the treasure of my mind,

intimate hands and dear

drawn garden-ward and sea-ward

all the sheer rapture

that I would take

to mould a clear

and frigid statue;

rare, of pure texture,

beautiful space and line,

marble to grace

your inaccessible shrine.

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