It is winter

 It is kind of cold around here in Winter.  The River keeps it from getting crazy cold, but only right next to it.  Fortunately we live right next to it.  There are hills close by and all around Maribor that the locals think of as mountains.  In the Utah of my youth we would hardly even call them foothills, but they are sufficiently elevated above the river that they have snow on the ground most of the time, while we have none most of the time where we live.  On the other hand, the River also keeps the humidity high, and the cold gets into your clothing and penetrates more than I'm used to.

A few days ago, Liz and I decided to take a walk, among other things to retrieve Liz's laptop from the young missionaries who live in our old apartment.  

Liz is all bundled up from the cold.  The date is a couple of days after Christmas.

In this photo Liz is just walking back from the apartment, and I was looking at this large double-heart placed here to attract padlocks from other public structures.   And, it worked, too! It is festooned with padlocks.  While she was gone, I counted them.  I counted 427 padlocks, although I would not guarantee that number's accuracy closer than +- 20.  The locks are placed there by lovers who are locking their love in place.  Bridges and the edges of high places are a more-popular place to affix padlocks, I assume the vow is something along the lines of, "If our love breaks I will throw myself over the edge."  It's very romantic.  This one is safer than bridges or tall buildings or natural wonders, because the fall is less likely to hurt much.

Slovenia's government lifted some of the travel restrictions slightly for both Christmas and New Year's.  On New Year's Day one of our friends brought us some fruit, which was mighty nice of them.  They included a Pomelo.  I have never paid attention to them before now.  Perhaps you have.  They are larger than a grapefruit, but have a very thick peel with a heavy layer of white "rag" around the fruit.  The clear covering of each section is bitter, much like a grapefruit.  The sections, are good eating once separated from all the clutter, not as juicy as a grapefruit, but sweeter.  It is kind of somewhere between an orange and a grapefruit in flavor, but more bland than either.

The pomelo.

I put about half into a wonderful fruit salad, and ate the rest of it over the next two days.  Liz enjoyed the fruit salad, but did not want any more pomelo.

We have had snow quite often over the last few weeks.  This is typical for this locale.  One time I actually had to go and walk into town while there was snow on the ground.  But most days it is safe to walk about after a few hours wait.

A typical snow day.

Now the quarantine restrictions are back in place and we are just hunkered down again - staying safe.  The number of people with COVID has taken a jump (probably from Christmas), so we don't expect another easing in the forseeable future.