Toplo

Another dusting of snow fell in Ardmore last night. Not enough to stop traffic or cause delays, but it did serve to further convince me that this January might very well get the best of me, and dashed my feeble hope that spring is just around the corner. I am in desperate need of sunshine! When will this cold front let go and move on? I need bare shoulders and painted toenails and sunglasses and bright colors and open windows and warm breezes already!

Alas, since none of these are likely to make an appearance still for months to come, I am trying to stave off the chill by warming my hands on the blazing fire of good memories...

On the spur of the moment, we decided to take a ferry from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Bari, Italy. After handing over our kuna and taking a place in line, we ran from the car to the nearest market to collect provisions for the eight hour crossing. A butcher cut us down a sausage and sliced off a wedge of good cheese. We selected a baguette, wrapped a bunch of grapes in brown paper and selected a bottle of wine. A tube of Pringles was thrown in, for good measure. We paid for our food, bagged it in crinkly blue plastic and darted between the other passengers' cars, just in time to start up our own and slowly snake our way into the belly of the boat.

Having been tipped off by our guidebook, once parked, we quickly gathered up our food, blanket, books and other necessities and bounded up the stairs to stake our claim. We made a beeline for starboard and selected an ideal spot on the warmed metal floor to lay our blanket, both protected from the front winds and shaded from the scorching sun overhead. Settled in, we leaned against the wall and stretched out our legs, listening to the gulls and ferrymen squawking on the pier and the lapping of the blue-green Adriatic against the bulkhead below.

When she finally took off from the harbor and made way out into the sea, we snacked, read, dozed and gazed, lulled by the wine and the warmth and the whirring of the engines below. As night fell, we watched as a fiery red orange sun set behind the land of our next adventure.

(Sorry for the grainy quality, it's a scanned film photo.)