A few of the songs that get a lot of airplay around Christmas are actually just winter songs. Winter songs are far fewer than songs about summer. However, right now they are much more apt.
“Baby It’s Cold Outside” from 1944 is my nomination for The Winter Song of the Week: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,_It’s_Cold_Outside
Not only does the song have some amazing provenance and meteorological nuance, it also has a Wildlife Ecology d’angle to the duet: the two singers are designated “wolf” and “mouse.”
We’ll be hunting more than rodents tomorrow night (January 8): come in from the cold and hear Laura Knoll of the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology give some amazing insights about parasites and their interplay with your immune system. Parasites& Your Immune System: now there’s a duet that makes a difference.
Now that we’ve been immunized against temperatures dipping down near -20, the projected Zero Degrees for 7 pm Wednesday will seem like a heat wave.
Nevertheless, I’ll be providing my Boundary Waters Hot Chocolate (minus the Lake Insula water) and Greenbush Donuts as a reward to those of you who hitch up the huskies and sled in tomorrow night.
Yes, we are hardy folk. Sometimes, we are just foolhardy folk. Thanks goodness for the Minnesotans, who make us look like slackers.
Thanks again!
Biotechnology Center & Cooperative Extension