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ESSAY
Notes from New England
January 8, 2024
Ayuh — that’s the way we say “yes” in Maine.
Ayuh, we are back, both at Scrittura and The Howling Owl. Thank you for a winter’s break. It’s easy to forget that the editors here are volunteers with lives and jobs of their own, that they volunteer here, and that they are the reasons that the publications exist.
And yup, — another affirmation — it’s winter he-ah… Mainers have no “r” on the ends of words.
Many Mainers would say, “Yup, it’s wicked winta.” and some would say, “Ayuh, it’s fuckin’ cold.”
It’s been below freezing for about a week. That’s riveting. Bracing. And the wind makes is “colda.” Remember, no “r’s.”
Wind is the thief of warmth. Yesterday the wind chill bottomed out at a -7 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just too cold to take Bella for a walk, even if she loves the chill. It’s bracing, remember?
And that bracing cold has yielded a bright epiphany.
When it’s this cold, I check the temps several times a day. “Alexa, what’s the temperature?” or “Alexa, what’s the wind chill temperature?”
Then, something whacked me right side o’ the head. That wind chill temperature of -12 degrees is twelve degrees below zero in Fahrenheit terms or 24…
