Winter Warrior

This morning, I wore my next-to-heaviest winter coat. Some faint flurries were in the air. It was 29 degrees on our indoor-outdoor thermometer.

I have some kind of rule for what coat I wear when I walk over to the coffee shop in the morning: 80s (nada), 70s and 60s (a light jacket), 50s and 40s (a fleece jacket), 20s and 30s (a black pea coat--which is what I wore today) ...

PAUSE WHILE THE NERD-IN-ME TAKES OVER

Okay, why is it called a pea jacket? I didn't know, looked it up in Merriam-Webster, and it seems we have the Dutch to blame for this mildly naughty term (Ha! A jacket you pee in!)

by folk etymology from Dutch pijjekker, from pij, a kind of coarse cloth, a coat made of this material (from Middle Dutch pie) + jekker jacket; First Known Use: 1717

UNPAUSE WHILE THE NERD-IN-ME RETREATS

... below 20 (a parka with all the tech features I don't know and can't name but thank Science for!). When it's bitterly cold, I'll wrap a large scarf around my face. I used to have a ski mask but thought I looked like a criminal, and with everybody packing these days, I didn't want to be on the receiving end of some citizen's let's-prevent-this-crime-before-it-happens bullet(s).

Sometimes, as I've been senescing,* I've noticed that I'm a little colder than I want to be, even in the coats I've so carefully arranged. So ... the other day I remembered that I had a thermal vest I got from Western Reserve Academy when the Headmaster retired a while back: He paid for every faculty member to have one. It's been hanging on the coat hook in our house ever since, but this year, defying dotage, I remembered it and now don it when I've feeling especially wimpy.

As I was getting ready to come home from the coffee shop (about 9:15) today, the place was getting crowded. I saw an older man come in (I didn't recognize him), so I told him I was leaving, that he could have "my" table-and-chair. He was grateful. We talked a little as I packed up. He's in town from Southern California. Never sees snow. Doesn't like the cold.

I told him about my mom. When we moved to Ohio from Oklahoma in the summer of 1956, she was always cold, often wore sweaters on even very warm, humid days. Ohio could be warm, yeah, but it was about 110 the day we left the Sooner State. (Take that, Buckeyes!)

I hurried home, my black pea coat (!) dotted with snowflakes. When I go back this afternoon, I'm pretty sure I'll add the vest. Gotta keep an Old Guy warm, you know?

*senesce was the word-of-the-day on wordsmith.org today (link), so ... use it! Own it!