It’s February, come to think about it.
      Travel, at a minimum, has been relegated to walking the dog a couple of times a day during the early “mud season.”
      January was a month of temperature extremes, but right now the mercury is 30s. Three weeks earlier New York City was at its coldest, with temps at or below zero.
      So after each walk in the mud pie park near our home, Little Lulu gets her feet washed.
      It’s a humbling experience, washing feet.
      Note that at 18 months our Little Lulu has four big feet.
      Every time I pick one up I think about that great Fats Waller song with the line:
      “I really hate you ‘cause your feets too big!”
      Now after washing Lulu’s feet for about a week I have started to think that what goes around comes around.
      Wonder if it all started last November in Istanbul?
      While taking a break from the action at Transport Logistik, I sat drinking coffee in a small café near the Grand Bazaar. From that vantage point, I could see men as they entered an oval, open air kiosk where a half-dozen seats with wash stands waited for them to wash their feet prior to prayer time.
      I drank my coffee while my wife, Sabiha, was off buying fabric. I smiled and even shared one of those silent, unspoken greetings that sometimes occur between people who have never met before.
      Now, 90 days later, I am washing the dog’s feet at home. I noticed yesterday her feet were not quite as muddy as usual.
      So maybe Lulu is the best barometer and her message from the ground up is for six more weeks of winter?
      That reminds me of a song from the great Johnnie Ray.
Geoffrey

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