How cold is cold? The first winter my Mexican daughter-in-law was here in St. Louis, she came in my house one day when the temperature was 45F and said,

“It’s so cold!”

“This is not cold.” I replied, “Not yet.”

She looked incredulous.

The next week the temperature was in the low thirties.

“Is cold now, yes?” she asked me.

“No, not yet”. She began to look worried. After all, in central Mexico, where she is from, when the temperature is 57F they are all huddled in parkas, shivering.

Not too much later the temperature dropped into the mid twenties.

“Is today cold?” Irieri asked me.

“Yes,” I responded, “This is cold; but it will get colder.”

Today was colder. When I was roaming Forest Park, the temperature was hovering around 10F, with a slight wind blowing (that’s all it takes). I was wearing (in addition to my normal clothing) 2 sweaters, ski pants, heavy down parka, hat, ear muffs, electric gloves and fleece-lined mittens. My head was getting cold as I walked near the Jewel Box, so I put up my hood. My right hand had to be out of my mitten to take photos, so it tended to get a bit cold, even inside my electric glove. I had to stop shooting every so often and put my mitten back on just to bring back the feeling in my fingers. Oh, but it was a beautiful day in the Queen of Urban parks! Our Canadian friends were there (as usual) but a very important American also put in an appearance. Go on, take a look.