glomitts

At the Epiphany Party that the choir gave in my honor before I left, one of the gifts I received was a pair of glomitts. They look like knit woolen gloves but with the tips of the fingers cut off. Attached to the back of the glove is a flat, knit, cup-shaped appendage that can quickly be put over the top of the gloves and instantly you have a mitten. It can be secured shut with the attached velcro. There's a miniature version of it over the thumb without the velcro. So they're half glove/half mitten, hence the name glomitt. I was enthralled with the gift from Jane and Lyndon. I wasn't quite sure when I would need them, but I knew that I would at least wear them as mittens (since mittens are so much warmer than gloves) and would enjoy them. They were also soft and in a pretty shade of tan and beige . . . and I do love those autumn colors. Since both my long coat and my short coat are brown, they'd match whatever I was wearing.

One day in early January, I was taking my photos of the creek (see the "Diary of a Creek" photo journal on my website . . . still under construction for now) and had to take off my right glove to be able to push all the right buttons to take the photo. As my right hand got very cold taking the photo, it dawned on me that indeed, I had the perfect use for glomitts! Every time I know I'm going to take photographs outdoors, I make sure I have glomitts in my coat pockets (they're usually in "the other coat" . . . whichever one I'm not planning to wear). I wear the glomitts in their mitten phase while walking around, then when it's time to take a picture, I flip the mitt cover off the right hand and have my fingertips "at my fingertips" for all the detail work required for photo-taking. As soon as I push the off button on the camera (a tiny button next to the shutter button . . . so if taking photos with regular gloves on, I often get photo of the inside sleeve of my coat or something else equally deletable), I flip the mitt back on and I'm toasty warm yet again. :-)

On a recent cold day, I was walking to school with my big coat on and was wearing my leather gloves that Mom W. had given me for Christmas. They're very nice but on this day, they were not warm enough. I shoved the hand that wasn't holding my bookbag into the big coat pocket and realized that the glomitt was down in the bottom of that pocket. Aha! Since the glomitt is knit, it's a little stretchier than my leather gloves, so I put the glomitt on over the leather glove. The difference in comfort was immediately noticable so I switched the book bag to the other arm and did the same to the other hand. Aaaaah. Warmth. So "dress in layers" applies to your hands as well and glomitts make a perfect second layer.

Thank you Jane and Lyndon!!

It's cold, but there are good things about it

from The Morning Sentinel, Friday, February 9, 2007, Section B (Local and State News), front page:

It's cold, but there are good things about it

We asked for it. Maine's prodigal winter has returned, and it seems to be making iself pretty comfortable. It dropped to 7 degrees in Portland Thursday morning/ 20 below at Moosehead Lake.

Forecasters say we should expect more of the same, along with icy breezes, for the next several days.

Ready for spring yet?

Well, remember, frigid weather can be your friend. Here are our top 10 reasons you should embrace the cold:

10. It takes your mind off global warming for a few days.
9. Wind chills put you in touch with your inner Inuit.
8. Because you haven't lived until you've driven a half-ton pickup across a frozen lake.
7. Biting cold vs. biting insects? It's better to be numb than stung.
6. Picking up after Fido's never been easier.
5. There's no shortage of parking spaces at the beach.
4. Cold weather encourages people from away to stay away.
3. As cold as it is here, there's a whole country north of us where it's colder.
2. Frozen "morning hair" can be easy to maintain.
1. The Sox on Opening Day will be that much sweeter.

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No author was given on this. It just said "Blethen Maine Newspapers" where the byline would be if there was one. Did no one want to take credit? :-)

Of course, I love the reference to "people from away" in #4.

MRM said that frozen morning hair is a reality if you go outside with your hair damp. How have I missed that? I'll have to try that. ;-)