maybe it's because it's friday but my head was feeling kind of stuffy this morning. Slogging back and forth in my heavy boots, because of the snow and ice is making my legs sore. The 2 guys to the left are Dilly and Dally, the 2 characters in my childrens books, cute aren't they. Have a nice weekend.

It's the day after the snow storm, I could hear the snow crisp beneath my feet as I walked to work this morning. Though the temperature never got higher than 25 f ( -3 c ), there was bright sunshine in the afternoon and so we had some snow melting.

It seems that the weather people got one right, well almost. Yes we did get 2"-3" ( 5-7.5 cm ) of snow, yes freezing rain, but no it did not change to heavy rain, because it didn't get as warm as they said it would. here in New York life pretty much went on, just a little slower than usual. There was even some blue sky as I went for my run after coming home from work.

I do like the odd nap now and then and according to an article I just read it is good for you. A Greek study of 23000 men in their 50's, apparently shows that if you take a 30 minute nap 3 times a week. Itreduces the risk of heart failure by 37%. They say it is helpful if you can find a couch or a sofa and take a nap around mid-day while at work. Well who knew!

The start of the morning was a little gloomy and overcast, but it brightened up by late morning and the temerature has climbed 5 or 6 degrees above freezing. It is that time of year when I have to prepare my taxes, this usually doesn't take me too long. I like to get them in well before the April 15 ( this year 17th ) deadline.

What a beauty this morning was. When I looked out of the window I could see bright sunshine, the sky a beautiful eggshell blue. I pulled on warm running clothes and my shoes and I was out the door. Of course it was cold out there, but that was almost lost in how nice the day was. It's funny because when I first woke up I didn't feel so good, but the day outside inspired me and I had a nice run and then enjoyed my breakfast.

I slept in an extra hour this morning, well it is the weekend. Wolves beat preston 1-0, Preston were 2nd in the Championship. Now WBA ( my nephews team ) have moved into 2nd place. In Rugby Union England just managed to beat Italy and Scotland beat Wales. It is still cold here but the temp' climbed above freezing again, a little bit easier to run .

I can't believe that it's the weekend, still cold though the temperature did get above freezing this afternoon . The whole week has been a stuggle against cold. we have a problem with the heating at work and of course it's been cold outside. Here we are though in the second week of february and hardly any snow at all this winter.

Once again I was feeling pretty tired by the end of the day, the cold weather really takes it out of you. So this time I took a nap first and then went for my run. The run was good I felt very fresh, stopped in at one of local restaurants to get a take away for dinner on the way home.

The England team played a friendly against Spain today and lost 1-0. The game was discribed as being a bit of a lack lustre performance by England. With all the great players in England, they do not seem able to put together a very convincing show of skills these days. I am not sure if it is the cold but as soon as I get home I go for a run, then take a short nap in the early evening.

my sniffles and sneezes have returned after about a week away. The fact that the temperature only climbed up to 26 f ( -4 c ) doesn't really help much. I did however have a nice run this afternoon even if it was cold. A good nights sleep will help.

I have noticed an interesting weather phenomenon the last 3 days. After the sun goes down the temerature rises 1 or 2 degrees and no matter what the temp' is when I wake up, it always goes down 1 or 2 degrees just before the sun comes up. Also I spend part of my evening writing my blog and when I get a chance to read I am reading someone else's diary ( Micheal Palin's book ). Well it's interesting to me!

Another cold morning ( 21 f -6 c ), went out well dressed in layers of clothing for my run. I enjoyed it. You know it is amazing that even when it is so cold you can still work up a sweat. My Ecuadorean friend who lives just around the corner, invited me for breakfast. he had also been out for a run this morning. here in the US it is superbowl weekend , today is the game , but I have decided not to watch it ( too much hype ). I am sure I will hear everything about it tomorrow.

Today was a very crisp day, the temperature ranged from 28 f to 25 f ( 2 c to 3 c ). There was broght sunshine once it came up, but the sky and everything looked sharp. I listened to the England v Scotland Six Nations game on the BBC, on my computer, England won 42-20. My Wolves managed a 2-2 draw with Plymouth and remain in 10th place in the Championship. I had an idea to but a cheap video camera, I had seen in a store that was going out of business. They had sold out by the time a I got there, oh! well.

This post is mainly for my sister. I recieved some messages last night and today about one of my cousins from Serbia. He is about 14 years old and has had kidney problems for some time. He and his mother have now gone to a special Humanitarian hospital in Torina Italy, that offers care to children from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia. I am told that he will be there maybe for 4 to 6 months waiting for a donor, at which time he will recieve a new kidney. The people of his village and some surounding ones collected money to send him. I wish him luck and hope to see well soon. His name is Vlado.

I had a pretty good day at work and a nice run this afternoon. My agent contacted me to say that 2 publishers passed on my childrens book, I still have 8 more to hear from though so we will see. Oh! the south american climber by the way, I managed to get some tubers,so I'll see how they do in the spring.

This photo and the previous 2 were taken this summer at a house near where I live. It is a climbing plant from South America I believe called Alamanda. So it was the 2nd leg of the league Cup semi-final betwen Arsenal and Spurs. Spurs scored a late equalizer to make it 1-1 in regulation, then Arsenal scored 2 in extra time to win 3-1 ( 5-3 agg ). They go on to meet Chelsea in the final.

A New Poem...

The Wind
it talks to me
in strong and gentle tones

The Wind
it chills me
through to my bones

The Sun
it beams out
from the dark

The Sun
brings forth
the singing of the Lark.

For the last week or so the weather forcast has predicted snow showers or flurries in the evening. Next morning there is very little evidence of this. However this morning there was a good coating of snow on the ground. The cloudy day that was expected did not appear and we were showered with sunshine, which cleared away most of the snow.

My nephew is very happy today, because his team West Brom beat my team Wolves 3-0 in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Other than that it has been a good day, the weather has been almost spring like, since it's the last few days of January that's pretty good. I saw this image and just thought I bet he's going to be a footballer.