Perspective in Difficult Times

It is blimey cold today. 18 degrees.

Ridiculous for Texas and the long awaited Super Bowl week at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. It's a shame, such a huge event caught in the deep freeze maw of Mother Nature, dashing hopes for a huge financial boost to the local economy. The freeways were a disaster yesterday with jackknifed 18-wheelers all over the metroplex and beyond, surrounded by cars that stopped and couldn't get traction to get moving again, or worse, slid off the road entirely. Some were there for hours.

Like most folks who don't absolutely have to go to work, I'm basically housebound what with the neighborhood roads iced up and a steep driveway I refuse to negotiate under these conditions. So I've turned to the computer to get some work done (and the truth is, I needed to do it anyway). The only problem is dealing with the planned rolling power outages we're experiencing as the local authorities have gone into an emergency plan, trying to avoid overloading the grid. Thank goodness for a laptop.

A good time to take notice of the world, how things are heating up politically in Egypt and Tunisia, while a great cyclone rips into Australia and middle America is frozen in place. People are taking back their political power and chaos is the price. Mother Nature doesn't bargain about power. There's good news and bad news. As always.

But the sun rises every morning and sets every evening, right on schedule. l can get around again after several years of agonizing pain because my friends helped me through two surgeries last year and I'm now the proud owner of two new hips that guarantee a pat down in every airport and security checkpoint I pass through! Hallelujah! I can get through them under my own power and even shake my bootie if I'm so moved.

Yes, it is frigid. And the visitors to my little bird "watering hole" have never been more diverse.