There is a level of cold here, I'm sure I've experienced it before but I don't remember it very clearly, where the moment you step outside and inhale, the hairs in your nose freeze and your face starts to tingle. I think, at least for me, this happens when the thermometer drops below 9 degrees. At 10, it doesn't happen, at 8 it does. When it's that cold, too cold to snow, the sun is usually out, turning everything white and sparkly and so beautiful that I am in awe, just driving the kids to school.
"Look at the mountain!"
"Look at the trees!"
"Look at the roofs!"
It often looks like a postcard, impossibly pretty. I don't mind overcast days. I am, after all, a Portland girl at heart (and by the way, have you seen
this? Hilarious, and, really, pretty true. "But the sun is out!" was a semi legitimate excuse for skipping class at U of O, even for the professors). But I do love these clear, bright, cold days when everything is frozen.
