Below what?

"Three below what?" was the question.

My gangly young beach bum surfer girl was half listening to the television, sprawled on the floor of our living room in La Mesa, California.

I looked up from whatever I was doing, and realized she had heard a weather report.

Obviously NOT about our location, where flowers bloomed in January, and the only bundling up required to make her comfortable out-of-doors was the addition of long sleeves to her wet suit as she and her dad hit the surf.

(I hear there's a cold snap up north today...I prefer my snaps to be pink, so I can play with them and make dragon bites by gently pinching the blossoms. Oh, such happy memories of giggling toddlers daring to be bit!)

"Below what?"
It became a family joke.

She's in Minneapolis Minnesota today.
And I head there tomorrow.
It's six below (zero...as it turns out) there at nights, and not much warmer there during the day.

Guess the jokes on us.

Daughter LauraRN traveled to Hawaii two summers ago as a nurse to work at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu for four months
(She has a very interesting life...)
She was assigned to an apartment on (I think it was) the 41st floor of a high rise apartment overlooking Diamond Head.
Windows made up two walls of her space.
What a view!

She chose to have a room mate that assignment.
Another traveling nurse would be in the second bedroom, each with their own bath.
(Tough life...)

Andrea was from Minnesota.
The two six foot tall nurses, one a red-head surfer and one a blond haired snow maiden explored all the islands on their days off.
(Nurses work three 12 hour shifts, then have four days off each week...)

We came to the island to visit.
Her parents came to the island to visited.

The girls were like sisters, and it felt like having two daughters while we were there.

Laura got engaged while she was there, and Andrea helped the suitor hide the ring on the Honolulu beach, and filmed the proposal.
Happy for Laura, sad for herself.

Six months later, Laura was back in California, and had returned her ring.
Six months later (there abouts...) Andrea was back in Minnesota, and had gotten a ring.

Laura's romance took place from Philadelphia to Ireland to California to Virginia to Hawaii to Los Angeles to Houston to Salt Lake City and ended in Los Angeles.

The nurse Laura traveled. He followed. We prayed.

The girls prayed together.

Both wanted Godly men, and happy marriages.

It took two years to win Laura, and six months to lose her.

Andrea returned home. And found the man of her dreams right there in her own home town.

She's getting married Friday, and Laura's the maid of honor.

And I'm going to be there too.
(The after shot, referring back to my last post.)

(Pansies love cold weather, and since it is hot here by April, they must go into the soil in winter. This is a pretty basic bit of gardening, plopping the small plants into soil. I also sowed larkspur and poppy seeds over the area and am hoping for billows of flowers come spring.)

It's not like I haven't been in some cold weather.
Laura, my mom-in-law Barbara and I headed to Scotland two winters ago.
(Laura arranged her four days off to be back to back, worked a few extra shifts and treated me to a week of fun. LOVE that girl!)
I like traveling in winter.
I sunburn easily.
I'd rather bundle up than try to cool down.

I love this Scotland shot because I think the building (church?) tower trim mimics the bare trees.

Brrr....

I'm being assured that if it is THAT cold outside in Minnesota, the building INSIDE most likely will be pretty warm, and perhaps even hotter than I am used to.

Now how the heck am I supposed to pack for that?

I am also assured that I will not need to be outside much.

Does this mean the car will always be parked in inside heated parking lots?

Laura is wearing a lovely expresso/chocolate brown maid-of-honor dress with her matching chocolate brown Uggs.

As the dress is long, and Uggs won't show, the bride has signed off on this.

My beige Uggs don't match my sage/mint green knee length dress.

Darn.

This is going to be an adventure.

I'm hoping warm hearts will create enough glow to keep the rest of me warm.

And that I have enough time in the next 24 hours to get a pedicure.

If my toes are going to freeze from going to the church wearing heels, at least I want my toenails to look good while being treated for frostbite.

Below what indeed.