Hell Freezes

That title is sort of a reference to the year we endured triple digit temperatures for more than ninety days straight and practically the entire state of Texas was on fire. (You could see the flames in the shape of Texas from space.) This week we hit 25F in Austin--which is pretty cold even if it's colder elsewhere. It's also snowed (lightly) about three different times. (It almost never snows here.) My favorite was when it snowed while I was walking home from the gym. It was magical. There were big, fat, fluffy flakes floating around--not the tiny, almost sleet particles we usually get when it snows. Anyway, it's been like this for a couple of days, but I'm glad of it. Sadly, it'll warm up again to 50F today. Because: Texas.

At least some of the fleas and mosquitos were killed off. Here's hoping for one more big freeze.

This morning I came across this image of earth supposedly taken by the Hubble space telescope but apparently not so much. (I kept thinking those clouds were awfully huge. Many thanks to Cam Loft for the Snopes link.) Still, I think it's my favorite visualization of earth. In a way, the planet looks so much more like the other planets in our system. You can see where our atmosphere starts and stops. The cloud cover is beautiful like Saturn's rings.

It's the kind of big picture we don't often see. I can't help feeling a lot of love for that big blue marble. Here's hoping it sees less damage and abuse from us in 2018.