Window Weather

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Speaker 1 Rules and restrictions apply.

Speaker 1 Welcome

Speaker 1 to season 15

Speaker 1 of bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I read and write all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 With Audio Engineering by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week. And this week, we are giving to Sesame Workshop.

Speaker 1 Mission-driven, child-focused.

Speaker 1 Helping children grow smarter, stronger, and kinder.

Speaker 1 Learn more in our show notes.

Speaker 1 I appreciate you listening to this little bit of housekeeping at the beginning of our EPS.

Speaker 1 If you sometimes find yourself

Speaker 1 saying along with me

Speaker 1 with audio engineering by Bob Witterheim.

Speaker 1 Well we made some merch for that

Speaker 1 and our little shop has some really great things in it these days.

Speaker 1 You can color some scenes from the village,

Speaker 1 snuggle up with our weighted pillow, and of course sign up for ad-free and bonus episodes through our premium feeds. Learn more in our show notes or at nothingmuchhappens.com

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 I have a story to tell you.

Speaker 1 It is a place to rest your mind.

Speaker 1 And as you listen,

Speaker 1 you'll find yourself relaxing more

Speaker 1 and more.

Speaker 1 The steady rhythm of my voice will guide you right to sleep.

Speaker 1 This is a form of brain training.

Speaker 1 So if you're new here,

Speaker 1 give us a month or so of regular use

Speaker 1 to achieve best results. I'll tell the story twice

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 If you wake later in the night

Speaker 1 If you feel the wheels in your mind

Speaker 1 starting to turn,

Speaker 1 just push play again.

Speaker 1 You'll drop right back off.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Window Weather.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about the deep cold of midwinter and the calm, cozy feeling of watching it from your window.

Speaker 1 It's also about oranges and lemons,

Speaker 1 bells on on collars, a well-stocked pantry and fridge, and the joy of getting into your pajamas at three in the afternoon.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 lights out campers.

Speaker 1 Make yourself as snug and comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 Feel how good it is to be in bed,

Speaker 1 to be at the end of your day.

Speaker 1 Whatever today was

Speaker 1 is

Speaker 1 what today was.

Speaker 1 And now we are here.

Speaker 1 Draw a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh from your mouth.

Speaker 1 Again, in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Window weather.

Speaker 1 This first week of January

Speaker 1 was just

Speaker 1 bitter cold.

Speaker 1 The snow lay thick on the ground,

Speaker 1 and long icicles hung from the eaves.

Speaker 1 I'd had to go out

Speaker 1 a few errands that couldn't be put off any longer.

Speaker 1 And now as I wound my way back home,

Speaker 1 I was so glad to know

Speaker 1 I wouldn't have to leave again.

Speaker 1 The afternoon light was dim.

Speaker 1 We were still a few hours from sunset.

Speaker 1 But it looked like it might happen at any minute.

Speaker 1 A lot of houses were still strung with holiday lights,

Speaker 1 and the gleam of them in the overcast atmosphere

Speaker 1 felt like a beacon guiding me home.

Speaker 1 It was always an odd in-between feeling

Speaker 1 at this time of year,

Speaker 1 wanting a fresh start,

Speaker 1 but needing the comfort and coziness left over from the holidays to get through it.

Speaker 1 I found it best to take it in steps.

Speaker 1 One weekend I'd take down the tree.

Speaker 1 The next

Speaker 1 I'd put away the Christmas village.

Speaker 1 The outdoor lights I'd leave up

Speaker 1 until a very nice weekend rolled around,

Speaker 1 say in March,

Speaker 1 when it was a joy to be outside for a few hours

Speaker 1 and let myself appreciate the process of untangling the strands

Speaker 1 and boxing them up.

Speaker 1 I circled past the skating rink in downtown

Speaker 1 and saw that not a single soul was out on it today.

Speaker 1 It was just brutally cold,

Speaker 1 and there was no amount of bundling

Speaker 1 that could make it fun to play outside.

Speaker 1 I turned past the park

Speaker 1 where kids weren't making snowmen

Speaker 1 and wound through the neighborhood to my house.

Speaker 1 All along my street,

Speaker 1 smoke rose from chimneys

Speaker 1 and I was glad

Speaker 1 to see so many of us

Speaker 1 settled in for the day.

Speaker 1 As I turned into my driveway

Speaker 1 and waited for the garage door to lift,

Speaker 1 snow began to fall.

Speaker 1 Perfect timing.

Speaker 1 It felt like it had held off

Speaker 1 just for me.

Speaker 1 I drove into my garage and pushed the button,

Speaker 1 letting it close behind me.

Speaker 1 Does anyone else do this?

Speaker 1 Wait for the garage to close

Speaker 1 before you get out of the car.

Speaker 1 It feels like

Speaker 1 being closed in a decompression chamber.

Speaker 1 A layer of safety

Speaker 1 between me and the whole world.

Speaker 1 It was silly. A metaphor more than anything else.

Speaker 1 But whenever I did it,

Speaker 1 I found

Speaker 1 I sighed

Speaker 1 deeply

Speaker 1 in my car.

Speaker 1 I began to unpack the groceries from the trunk,

Speaker 1 setting the bags at the top of the few steps

Speaker 1 from the mud room

Speaker 1 into the kitchen,

Speaker 1 Then slowly pulled off my boots and coat,

Speaker 1 hung up my scarf,

Speaker 1 and stuffed my gloves

Speaker 1 into the sleeve of my coat.

Speaker 1 Another sigh.

Speaker 1 In the kitchen, I emptied the grocery sacks.

Speaker 1 I love to fill my kitchen with citrus at this time of year

Speaker 1 and topped up a bowl on the counter with sumo oranges,

Speaker 1 ruby red grapefruits,

Speaker 1 and mire lemons.

Speaker 1 The sharp, sweet scents clung to my fingers,

Speaker 1 and I decided to start a simmer pot on the stove

Speaker 1 to add their peels to.

Speaker 1 Most days in the winter

Speaker 1 I kept a pot simmering

Speaker 1 to soften the air.

Speaker 1 I'd add vanilla or cardamom pods to it.

Speaker 1 But one of my favorite additions

Speaker 1 was orange

Speaker 1 and lemon rinds.

Speaker 1 When they simmered,

Speaker 1 they released a soft floral scent,

Speaker 1 sweet and homey.

Speaker 1 As I stood at the sink

Speaker 1 filling the pot,

Speaker 1 I looked out into the yard

Speaker 1 and saw the snow was coming down thickly now.

Speaker 1 This was what my mother called

Speaker 1 window weather,

Speaker 1 as in

Speaker 1 excellent weather to enjoy from inside your cozy house,

Speaker 1 to be watched from the window.

Speaker 1 I set the pot on the stove

Speaker 1 and lit the burner

Speaker 1 and went back to sorting the groceries.

Speaker 1 I had a big sack of potatoes for the shepherd's pie I meant to make later.

Speaker 1 Carrots and peas,

Speaker 1 onions and brown lentils.

Speaker 1 I'd also bought a big cabbage to roast in the oven,

Speaker 1 boxes of crackers and containers of olives,

Speaker 1 canned chickpeas and beans,

Speaker 1 hearty stick-to-your-rib stuff

Speaker 1 that would see me through these frigid days.

Speaker 1 There were oats for porridge,

Speaker 1 arboreo and jasmine rice,

Speaker 1 ramen and pastina,

Speaker 1 and packages of broth.

Speaker 1 I'd bought coffee beans,

Speaker 1 and a few boxes of tea,

Speaker 1 cinnamon sticks, of which I added a few to the simmer pot,

Speaker 1 and a packet of lemon drop candies.

Speaker 1 From the bakery

Speaker 1 I had a loaf of sandwich bread,

Speaker 1 a thick slice of focaccia,

Speaker 1 a half-dozen oatmeal cookies,

Speaker 1 and an almond croissant for breakfast tomorrow.

Speaker 1 I'd also stopped at the bookshop before it closed for their annual vacation

Speaker 1 and picked up the new book for my book club.

Speaker 1 It was a thriller

Speaker 1 that I'd heard from more than one friend was impossible to put down

Speaker 1 and easy to read all in one day.

Speaker 1 I heard a tinkling bell and then another

Speaker 1 and saw two of my three cats wandering into the kitchen

Speaker 1 to check out the purchases.

Speaker 1 There was a stack of canned food for them,

Speaker 1 a bag of their kibble,

Speaker 1 and a fresh scratching post they could fight over.

Speaker 1 I set it on the floor in the corner of the dining room

Speaker 1 and let them dig in.

Speaker 1 I loved dogs, too, very much, but

Speaker 1 had to admit that in these frigid days

Speaker 1 I was glad that none of us needed to be walked or let outside.

Speaker 1 They were brothers, my cats,

Speaker 1 all three of them,

Speaker 1 and had showed up at a shelter

Speaker 1 when they were just kittens.

Speaker 1 All they'd had were each other.

Speaker 1 And though it was a big step to go from zero cats to three,

Speaker 1 I decided I could handle it.

Speaker 1 They hadn't even had names.

Speaker 1 And when they first came home,

Speaker 1 stepped out of their carrier

Speaker 1 and started to explore.

Speaker 1 I found them drawn to the bowl of stones on my entryway table.

Speaker 1 I was a hobbyist beach comber in the summertime

Speaker 1 and had found lots of pretty rocks

Speaker 1 even had a tumbler to polish them up.

Speaker 1 The brothers had nosed through my collection,

Speaker 1 and so I had named them

Speaker 1 Dolomite,

Speaker 1 Feldspar,

Speaker 1 and Steve.

Speaker 1 Listen, it makes sense if you know them.

Speaker 1 Steve meowed from the post, clearly enjoying his new piece of furniture.

Speaker 1 And I smiled at them

Speaker 1 as I finished putting everything away.

Speaker 1 Steam was rising from the pot on the stove,

Speaker 1 and I could smell the cinnamon I'd dropped in.

Speaker 1 I turned on the light over the range

Speaker 1 and turned off the overhead

Speaker 1 and sighed again.

Speaker 1 My home was in order.

Speaker 1 We were stocked up and ready to stay put for a bit.

Speaker 1 On the stairs, as I headed up to change

Speaker 1 Out of my jeans and sweater and into my PJs,

Speaker 1 It was nearly three o'clock after all.

Speaker 1 I passed Dolomite.

Speaker 1 He was my shy boy,

Speaker 1 and I stopped to give him a few pets.

Speaker 1 He had heard his brothers playing downstairs,

Speaker 1 and had finally decided to creep down

Speaker 1 and join the fun

Speaker 1 he slunk past me

Speaker 1 and i kept climbing

Speaker 1 from my bedroom window

Speaker 1 i looked up and down the street

Speaker 1 seeing

Speaker 1 lit windows

Speaker 1 the flicker of fires going

Speaker 1 In another few weeks, this cold spell would move on.

Speaker 1 The sun would last a bit longer each day.

Speaker 1 But for now,

Speaker 1 we'd enjoy the world inside

Speaker 1 and watch the snow fall from our windows.

Speaker 1 Window weather.

Speaker 1 This first week of January

Speaker 1 was just

Speaker 1 bitter cold.

Speaker 1 The snow lay thick on the ground,

Speaker 1 and long icicles

Speaker 1 hung from the eaves.

Speaker 1 I'd had to go out

Speaker 1 a few errands that

Speaker 1 couldn't be put off any longer.

Speaker 1 And now,

Speaker 1 as I wound my way back home,

Speaker 1 I was glad to know

Speaker 1 I wouldn't have to leave again.

Speaker 1 The afternoon light was dim.

Speaker 1 We were still a few hours from sunset,

Speaker 1 but it looked like it might happen

Speaker 1 at any minute.

Speaker 1 A lot of houses

Speaker 1 were still strung with holiday lights,

Speaker 1 and the gleam of them

Speaker 1 in the overcast atmosphere

Speaker 1 felt like a beacon

Speaker 1 guiding me home

Speaker 1 it's always an odd

Speaker 1 in-between feeling

Speaker 1 at this time of year

Speaker 1 wanting a fresh start

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 needing the comfort

Speaker 1 and coziness left over from the holidays

Speaker 1 to get through to it,

Speaker 1 I found it best

Speaker 1 to take it in steps.

Speaker 1 One weekend

Speaker 1 I'd take down the tree,

Speaker 1 the next

Speaker 1 put away the Christmas village.

Speaker 1 The lights I'd leave up until a very nice weekend rolled around

Speaker 1 say in March

Speaker 1 when it was a joy to be outside for a few hours.

Speaker 1 And I'd let myself

Speaker 1 appreciate the process

Speaker 1 of untangling the strands

Speaker 1 and boxing them up.

Speaker 1 I circled past the skating rink

Speaker 1 and downtown

Speaker 1 and saw that not a single soul was out on it today.

Speaker 1 It was just brutally cold,

Speaker 1 and there was no amount of bundling

Speaker 1 that could make it fun to play outside.

Speaker 1 I turned past the park

Speaker 1 where kids weren't making snowmen,

Speaker 1 and wound through the neighborhood to my house.

Speaker 1 All along my street,

Speaker 1 smoke rose from chimneys,

Speaker 1 and I was glad to see

Speaker 1 so many of us

Speaker 1 settled in for the day.

Speaker 1 As I turned into my driveway

Speaker 1 and waited for the garage door to lift.

Speaker 1 Snow began to fall.

Speaker 1 Perfect timing.

Speaker 1 It felt like it had held off

Speaker 1 just for me.

Speaker 1 I drove into my garage

Speaker 1 and pushed the button,

Speaker 1 letting it close behind me

Speaker 1 does anyone else do this

Speaker 1 wait for the garage to close

Speaker 1 before you get out of the car

Speaker 1 it feels like

Speaker 1 being closed in a decompression chamber

Speaker 1 a layer of safety

Speaker 1 between

Speaker 1 me

Speaker 1 and the whole world.

Speaker 1 It was silly,

Speaker 1 a metaphor

Speaker 1 more than anything else.

Speaker 1 But whenever I did it,

Speaker 1 I found

Speaker 1 I sighed

Speaker 1 deeply

Speaker 1 in the car.

Speaker 1 I began to unpack the groceries from the trunk,

Speaker 1 setting the bags at the top of the few steps

Speaker 1 from the mudroom into the kitchen,

Speaker 1 then slowly pulled off my boots and coat,

Speaker 1 hung up my scarf,

Speaker 1 and stuffed my gloves

Speaker 1 into the sleeve of my coat.

Speaker 1 Another

Speaker 1 sigh

Speaker 1 In the kitchen, I emptied the grocery sacks.

Speaker 1 I love to fill my kitchen with citrus

Speaker 1 at this time of year

Speaker 1 and topped up a bowl on the counter

Speaker 1 with sumo oranges,

Speaker 1 ruby red grapefruits,

Speaker 1 and mire lemons.

Speaker 1 The sharp, sweet scents

Speaker 1 clung to my fingers,

Speaker 1 and I decided to start a simmer pot

Speaker 1 on the stove

Speaker 1 to add their peels to.

Speaker 1 Most days in the winter

Speaker 1 I kept a pot simmering to soften the air.

Speaker 1 My dad,

Speaker 1 vanilla,

Speaker 1 or cardamom pods to it.

Speaker 1 But one of my favorite additions

Speaker 1 was orange and lemon rinds.

Speaker 1 When they simmered,

Speaker 1 they released a soft floral scent,

Speaker 1 sweet

Speaker 1 and homey.

Speaker 1 As I stood at the sink,

Speaker 1 filling the pot,

Speaker 1 I looked out into the yard

Speaker 1 and saw the snow was coming down thickly now.

Speaker 1 This was what my mother called

Speaker 1 window weather,

Speaker 1 as in

Speaker 1 excellent weather

Speaker 1 to enjoy from

Speaker 1 inside your cozy house

Speaker 1 to be watched from the window.

Speaker 1 I set the pot on the stove

Speaker 1 and lit the burner

Speaker 1 and went back to sorting groceries.

Speaker 1 I had a big sack of potatoes

Speaker 1 for the shepherd's pie

Speaker 1 I meant to make later

Speaker 1 Carrots and peas,

Speaker 1 onions and brown lentils.

Speaker 1 I'd also bought a big cabbage to roast in the oven

Speaker 1 boxes of crackers

Speaker 1 and containers of olives,

Speaker 1 canned chickpeas and beans,

Speaker 1 hearty

Speaker 1 stick-to-your-ribs stuff

Speaker 1 that would see me through these frigid days.

Speaker 1 There were oats for porridge,

Speaker 1 arboreo and jasmine rice,

Speaker 1 ramen and pastina,

Speaker 1 and packages of broth.

Speaker 1 I'd bought coffee beans

Speaker 1 and a few boxes of tea,

Speaker 1 cinnamon sticks,

Speaker 1 of which I added a few to the simmer pot,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 a packet of lemon drop candies.

Speaker 1 From the bakery,

Speaker 1 I had a loaf of sandwich bread,

Speaker 1 a thick slice of focaccia,

Speaker 1 a half dozen oatmeal cookies,

Speaker 1 and an almond croissant for breakfast to morrow.

Speaker 1 I'd also stopped at the bookshop

Speaker 1 before it closed

Speaker 1 for their annual vacation.

Speaker 1 And I'd picked up the new book for my book club

Speaker 1 it was a thriller that I'd heard from more than one friend

Speaker 1 was impossible to put down

Speaker 1 and easy to read all in one day

Speaker 1 I heard a tinkling bell

Speaker 1 and then another,

Speaker 1 and saw two of my three cats

Speaker 1 wandering into the kitchen

Speaker 1 to inspect the purchases.

Speaker 1 There was a stack of canned food for them,

Speaker 1 a bag of their kibble,

Speaker 1 and a fresh scratching post they could fight over.

Speaker 1 I set it on the floor

Speaker 1 in the corner of the dining room

Speaker 1 and let them dig in.

Speaker 1 I love dogs too,

Speaker 1 very much, but

Speaker 1 had to admit that

Speaker 1 in these frigid days

Speaker 1 I was glad that none of us needed to be walked

Speaker 1 or let outside.

Speaker 1 They were brothers, my cats,

Speaker 1 all three of them,

Speaker 1 and had showed up at the shelter

Speaker 1 when they were just kittens.

Speaker 1 All they'd had were each other.

Speaker 1 And though it was a very big step

Speaker 1 to go from zero cats to three,

Speaker 1 I decided I could handle it.

Speaker 1 They hadn't even had names.

Speaker 1 And when they first came home,

Speaker 1 stepped out of their carrier

Speaker 1 and started to explore.

Speaker 1 I found them drawn to the bowl of stones

Speaker 1 on my entryway table.

Speaker 1 I was a hobbyist, beach comber,

Speaker 1 in the summertime,

Speaker 1 and had found lots of pretty rocks,

Speaker 1 even had a tumbler to polish them up.

Speaker 1 The brothers had nosed through my collection,

Speaker 1 and so I had named them

Speaker 1 Dolomite,

Speaker 1 Feldspar,

Speaker 1 and Steve.

Speaker 1 Listen, it makes sense if you know them.

Speaker 1 Steve meowed from the post,

Speaker 1 clearly enjoying his new piece of furniture,

Speaker 1 and I smiled at them as I finished putting everything away.

Speaker 1 Steam was rising from the pot on the stove,

Speaker 1 and I could smell the cinnamon I'd dropped in.

Speaker 1 I turned on the light over the range

Speaker 1 and turned off the overhead

Speaker 1 and sighed

Speaker 1 again.

Speaker 1 My home was in order.

Speaker 1 We were stocked up and ready to stay put for a bit

Speaker 1 on the stairs as I headed up to change,

Speaker 1 out of my jeans and sweater,

Speaker 1 and into my PJs.

Speaker 1 It was nearly three o'clock, after all.

Speaker 1 I passed Dolomite.

Speaker 1 He was my shy boy,

Speaker 1 and I stopped to give him a few pets.

Speaker 1 He had heard his brothers playing downstairs,

Speaker 1 and had finally decided to creep down and join the fun.

Speaker 1 He slunk past me,

Speaker 1 and I kept climbing.

Speaker 1 From my bedroom window,

Speaker 1 I looked up and down the street.

Speaker 1 Seeing lit windows,

Speaker 1 the flicker of fires going.

Speaker 1 In another few weeks, this cold spell would move on.

Speaker 1 The sun would last a bit longer each day.

Speaker 1 But for now,

Speaker 1 we'd enjoy the world inside

Speaker 1 and watch the snowfall

Speaker 1 from our windows.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.