Needing some fresh air and a change of scenery, I bundled up and went for a walk. It was a beautiful day, blue skies, calm, and about 30°. I went up to my new school, down to the river, then out to Jefferson Park. I shared the park with a few hundred Canadian geese and a couple dozen mallards. Lake Winnebago is covered with ice and snow east clear to High Cliff Park and as far south as the eye can see, though the Fox is almost all open water.

On my walk, I saw an attractive young woman standing on the sidewalk not far from my house, readying to take a picture of twenty or so relatives posing on Grandma's porch. I asked her, "Do you belong in this picture?" She answered, "Well, yes." I told her to give me her camera and get up on the porch. I took two shots, received the family's thanks as I returned the camera, and I was on my way.

When I came home, I indulged myself in my third half-cigarette, then made my Christmas dinner, a cheeseburger with the last of my ground beef and American cheese. I topped it with barbecue sauce and blue cheese dressing, and plated it next to a potato baked in the microwave with some broccoli. I watched something I rarely see on tv at all... an NBA game. Mavericks-Kings. It was the first pro basketball game I've seen in years. (I do watch the NCAA tourney every March, but other than that I often state one of my catch-phrases: Basketball is the game girls play during hockey season.)

I relaxed for a while, then smoked my last Christmas cigarette on my third walk of the day. It felt a lot colder out than it had earlier. I wished a merry Christmas to an interracial couple walking toward me (not an uncommon sight around here), but neither greeted me in return. I walked east along Second Street, eyeing Orion, Gemini (with a very bright Saturn burning at the twins' feet), Canis Major and Canis Minor, Taurus, and Auriga. I turned south onto Manitowoc Street to the river, summoned by the Christmas lights on houses across on Doty Island. I came home via Broad Street, listening to the bells of St. Mary's chime nine o'clock. The city lights glared on the steam coming from the paper mills and I couldn't see any stars on the western horizon. (Mars was visible and I knew it was in Pisces, but I couldn't see any other stars around it.) When I got home I looked straight up and saw Cassiopeia, Perseus, and Andromeda.

I made a half-pot of coffee to warm up, lit a huckleberry candle, and watched The New Lambeau Field: Building on a Legend on tv, caught the news, Letterman, and Kilbourn... then turned on a movie from the cheapest video store in town... the Menasha Public Library. (Up to four movies for seven days for free. How can you go wrong?) I started to watch The Remains of the Day, but was so tired I fell asleep before it was finished. The last time I remember looking at the clock was 2:07am.

I awoke five hours later Friday morning. It was a business day, so I wouldn't have to deal with being stuck in the house all day. I began the day with my usual slow start and my usual breakfast of two pieces of toast (one with peanut butter and blackberry preserves, the other with just the preserves) and coffee with my ivy.

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