reality

 is when you go out for fish and chips - the bag is hot 
and you think ' in winter, like this, you should get takeout ice cream - you don't worry then about the treat melting '

M had the oven on, and I re - heated the suckers  halibut and chips while I ate the Caesar salad. " Hailbut House " is a franchise operation. See, we've adapted to the climate.

Our temperature will be up and down but below freezing for another week at least. Some days will be 20 s both day and night. This period is winter's blast.

Day is gray and looming but still. The cold is a wall as you step outside < for the paper  >

Follow up. Sleep. Its been about 6 nights in a row. No computer or phone prior to bedtime. First. I'm sleeping through til 6 at least and sometimes a bit longer. Success ? Maybe. I'm reading mostly to quiet down.

Exercise proceeds w/ a slight change in duration. I've cut back about 10 minutes b/c the plan is to be tired and not exhausted < well, 85 minutes is long >. As well, I watched a video on rowing a machine   < he had a Concept 2, like mine, way newer >. The physio guy recommended strength and style over rate. Thus, I'm rowing slower but stronger. Also, the row part used to 30 minutes. Thats the part that got cut back by 15 min or more. And its neat b/c the physio guy was stressing a shorter workout < 30 minutes, lets say > but that included warm up and warm down which I do anyway off the rower as part of the regular workout.

I have to say that you have to give credit to Concept 2 - once a one man company - now part of a mega group, they built a machine still spinning after 36 years. I said all the bells and whistles fell off - still the sucker works.

In Svalbard, Arctic Circle, Cecilia has been 80 + days without the sun. She admits to being a little depressed and struggling to keep her routine. Up at 8 AM and start the day. Except w/out the sun its hard to convince your body that it needs to rise.

Actually, there is ' Civil Twilight, now ' that means the sun's light is seen on the horizon but no sun - yet.

Here, you can tell that the sun is going down later. To boot, I unburied the kaleidoscope light on the ' great wall ', thus there is LED display in the backyard. Really. I found the light under 6 inches of snow and the stand is approx 10 in off the ground. It s a small victory but we take 'em as we can get 'em.

Oh. The remote that I ordered from Amazon < yes, the one that I found after ordering form Amazon > got water damaged and can't be shipped. We are talking a refund now. We shall see said the Zen Master. The supplier asked' can you apply for a refund ' - I did. We will wait for official word from Amazon.

We've been seeing pictures of the ' parcel graveyard ' in L.A. where trains are robbed and items stolen , boxes and shipping envelopes everywhere on the tracks. The remote is in that pile - I'm sure.