To add the layer of grayish blue that distinguishes some of the more furtive lines in "The Sisters, " I tucked in some icy blue tweedia and chose a chalky gray vase.

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Once, I got sentimental and tried to summon up days gone by, but Clara put on her icy armor, and I soon got the message and gave up on nostalgia.

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It was winter when I returned to France again and icy storms raged along the English Channel.

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That said, for five years now I have kicked off the New Year by taking a plunge in the icy waters of New York's Coney Island, a tradition I was introduced to while living in Dublin, where I joined hundreds of locals who make an annual Christmas leap from a rock at Sandycove and baptize themselves in the freezing Irish Sea.

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Second date: I drove the Cherokee from Detroit to Brooklyn over the holidays through icy conditions and blustery snow.

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Wrapping my coat around me, I went outside into the cold pure air of the winter morning, careful not to slip on the icy steps.

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We ourselves did not have a car until I was ten, Dad would travel the ten miles to work on a scooter or bus in the icy weather.

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Later that Christmas season, I was tobogganing with a couple of friends, on the other side of town, on a cold, icy afternoon.

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