Merino Wool, Down and Battery Heated Things!

I was over 40 years old and had been living in a snowy winter climate for almost 20 years before I heard the saying "There is no bad weather, only bad gear."

It's simple and true... and life changing when you actually start getting and wearing the right gear!

Now, as you know, we are off to Antarctica in a month. Summer in Antarctica brings temps on average around 32 F, with little variation. It will be winter here in Boulder and I'm guessing around the same temperature - plus or minus 30 degrees in any 24 hour period because that's how we roll!

Thank goodness I have plenty of warm hats, gloves, down jackets, fleece and wool layers. I'm both packed for Antarctica AND dressed for the cold spell and snow days that we are currently experiencing!

ANTARCTICA today:

BOULDER today:

NOTES:

1. My body cannot tell the difference between 10 degrees and 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold is cold! 

2. For my friends and family lucky enough to work in degrees Celsius, 9 F = -13 C.

Mmmm... 'Tis true

'She sat at the back and they said she was shy,

She led from the front and they hated her pride,

They asked her advice and then questioned her guidance,

They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence,

When she shared no ambition they said it was sad,

So she told them her dreams and they said she was mad,

They told her they'd listen, then covered their ears,

And gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears,

And she listened to all of it thinking she should,

Be the girl they told her to be best as she could,

But one day she asked what was best for herself,

Instead of trying to please everyone else,

So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees,

She heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves,

She spoke to the willow, the elm and the pine,

And she told them what she'd been told time after time,

She told them she felt she was never enough,

She was either too little or far far too much,

Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak,

Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek,

Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,

And she stopped...and she heard what the trees said to her,

And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,

For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.'

Author: @Becky Helmsley