This week reaffirmed my belief that anything below about 28 degrees is excess cold.

    I walked into the restaurant for breakfast last Wednesday and joked that it was 2 degrees warmer than Tuesday had been — climbed from 15 to 17 degrees west of town.

    Mac Cofer wanted to know just how I could tell the difference. By looking at the thermometer, of course.

    Seriously, though, the difference in, say, 25 degrees and 15 is significant. I can feel it on my face and hand the instant I step outside.

    The big change in winters these days, though, is staying warm indoors. I used to marvel at the homes that old folks lived in. They always seemed to be overheated. Now, I’m doing precisely the same thing and it doesn’t seem the least bit weird. I am now they.

    This time of year, I begin counting the weeks that lie ahead before spring arrives, and I know that’s wishing your life away at a time when you should be treasuring every morning, but a week like the last one is just so darned cold, how could you not wish it to go away?

    Kudos

    The NAACP honored two workers in the vineyard last week — Hazel Edwards and James Chapman. Mrs. Edwards was recognized for her years as an educator and Mr. Chapman for his multiple accomplishments as a town leader — councilman, mayor and business leader.

    James Chapman is, in fact, one of the town’s great characters. A man of immense good humor, an accomplished orator and, in every sense, a civic leader. He turned 90 the day after he was honored, and we wish him many, many more good years.

    During that same event, the county NAACP honored native son Jeffrey Blount, who was the annual dinner’s keynote speaker. Mr. Blount has had an incredible career as an Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist. He directed Meet the Press for 15 years and is currently the director of the NBC Nightly news.

    Blount challenged the NAACP to continue the work it began last year when it jointly sponsored with this paper a community forum on race relations.

    That type of work must continue across the country, the speaker said, if the nation is ever to achieve full racial equality.

    Powerful stuff, spoken from one who has viewed the country’s racial strife from the unique position of a nationally-prominent journalist.