Pouring on the Coals

Yesterday, it was seven degrees fahrenheit in Philadelphia - another "ice in the birdbath day." I had the luxury of sleeping in. But it wasn't always that way. In the 1930s my father would rise at 0600 to rake the coal heater, stir up the embers and shovel some anthracite "pea coal" from the coal bin into the fire so that we youngsters had some heat from those old fashioned radiators upon arising an hour later. He then took two trolleys and a subway to his place of employment. His generation was the one before the "greatest generation." I think of him often during this kind of weather.
tjs