Awoke to temperature in the teens this morning. Heat was leaking from the pipe sticking out of the top of every little row house around us, little columns of warm, white air against the blue of the morning sky.

It was so beautiful that I stopped to take a look and breathe a moment in it. Withouth the wind I had enough of a warm "bubble" to sustain me for a few long moments. I took the time to look at the sky where the sun was threatening to rise, the birds that flew overhead, the blackness of the branches against the morning blue, and the sky itself... clear and sharp and unbelievable.

On the way to work I saw something I hadn't gotten to see since I first moved back to PA.... a red fox. It was utterly beautiful, but sadly it was also dead in the road, the only reason I got a clear view of it.
I was tempted to pull over and remove the poor thing's body from the road so it didn't get crushed (it was the size of a small housecat) but the press of cars behind me and the lack of a berm, along with being a bit behind getting to work, prompted me to continue on.
But I'm happy. I'm happy that it was struck and killed immediately so it didn't have to suffer the cold or the pain long. Such a beautiful animal. I'm glad to see they're in the area.