The Wonder of Reading

The solution to yesterday's newspaper ‘Cryptoquote’ said it well:
There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all. — Jackie Kennedy.
Reading has always been a special part of my life. I cannot remember not having books. My wife and I, both former teachers, still read a lot and have always ‘adopted’ books over our house.

During my early years, my Mom, as well as just about any visitor to our house, often took time to read to me. For example, we would look through ‘The Three Little Pigs,’ while she told the story and sang the famous ditty: “Who's afraid of the big bad Wolf?” Of course, I followed the excellent illustrations.
My reading career was launched in a variety of Walt Disney books,

How Cold Was It?*

That question has been on everybody's lips for the last month, as the northern half of the globe has seen a ‘roller coaster’ of temperatures.

First, there was a continent-wide cold snap in December, near the date of the official start of winter. On Monday, the 23rd, a blizzard with lots of snow and freezing rain swept across the American Mid-West, as well as Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick. Many of the folks in these areas — especially 250,000 in Greater Toronto and 40,000 in Montréal — had no power throughout the entire Christmas week.
(Photo: fotosearch.com)
There was deep cold throughout the Prairie provinces, with temperature readings as low as -50, taking into account the wind chill. In the U-S, colder temperatures made it all the way down to Atlanta, and as far west has Dallas, and even San Diego.