frozen stumps

this morning i went to naran tuul market (aka: the zakh or black market), a massive open air market place that sells pretty much everything known to humankind - from turtles to wood burning stoves, clothes hangers to raw meat, area rugs to antiques.

the thing about good old naran tuul is that it is one of the coldest places in one of the coldest capitols of the world. even in the middle of summer, you could classify it as "chilly." today, it was probably about -10 (F not C). i knew i had toes when we entered the market place, but about 10 minutes later they disappeared and frozen stumps replaced them. oh, it was cold.

the good news is that i got 1/3 of what i set out to buy at the zakh: fabric for pillows. and buying fabric is no easy task. there has to be about 50 or more stalls that sell a rediculous range of fabric and all the spools are squished and crammed together so tight you sometimes need the jaws of life to pry them free. once i had the fabric, i was just too cold to go in search of the other items on my list and thankfully my friends felt the same so we just went home.

now i'm sitting, propped up against the radiator in the living room. my toes have returned. and i'm pretty sure my pillows will look fabulous.