Dallas has slid to a frozen halt.

It is no longer 80 degrees.

It is 25 and white.

With sleet.

& ice.

The kids across the street are playing soccer on the frozen grass and sliding all over the place. It looks like great fun, but I think I’ll stay inside where it’s nice and warm and dry. I have yet to see a car drive by. Most seasoned Dallasites stay off the roads when it ices for the very good reason that we drive in the stuff so infrequently our odds of fender bending go snow high. It is better to sit and watch and wait for the inevitable melt. In Texas, the only thing certain about the weather is that it changes quickly and often. Mittens today, shorts tomorrow — wait and see. One brother in Florida and the other in Puerto Rica texted little sympathy to my photo of our sudden winterscape. The sister in Minnesota was more sympathetic. It was -7 degrees Fahrenheit there. Brrrrrrrr. The old adage rings true: It is always colder somewhere else. I am content with our waning winter watch and temporary temperature changes.

Speaking of watching and changing, the Academy Awards were last night. I stayed sitting in my chair, mesmerized by the glittering Oscars, staring in anticipation to the very end. Now, I have more movies to watch each to their “The End.” For that, last evening’s show was a scintillating spectacle sprinkled with the outlandish oddnesses and dancing delights of Hollywood at its night’s well-dressed and tuxedoed best. In Los Angeles of California, the celestial scene changes as quickly as it does here in our Texas skies, but with real stars rising and falling rather than sleet sifting and settling, a different dynamic under the palm trees than the winter weather covering our live oaks. There, the winners have weathered their storms, been knighted by their Oscars and are now added to my must-see list. A good movie on a winter’s day is a joy.

Another joy of the season approaches. March Madness and the Big Dance are near upon us. In this country, college basketball’s regular season has only a few weeks of remaining play. Then, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division I Basketball Championship & Tournament begins. Oh, these are times that lift the spirit and bring a bounce to the step. Selection Sunday is March 15, 2015. On that day, 68 teams will receive the call to board the planes and advance to the designated stadiums of play. Oh, the unfounded joy that awaits our watch. On March 17-18, 8 teams in the First Round (called the First Four) play for 4 play-in spots. Without a break, on the very long weekend of March 19-22, the now 64 teams battle in the Second Round with 32 winners prevailing to smash the boards in the Third Round and yield the 16 surviving squads of the “Sweet Sixteen.” That was a long weekend and a statistical tsunami of fun. Everyone gets a few days break. On the next long weekend of March 26-29, the Sweet Sixteen are whittled to the “Elite Eight,” who are then paired in combat, with four to emerge victorious and be titled the “Final Four.” The National Semifinals on Saturday, April 4, pit the Final Four against each other to yield the two teams to play for the victor’s laurels. On Monday, April 6, the Championship Game is fought and won. The winner is crowned and stands alone the number one team of the land. That is a marathon of hoops and baskets to make James Naismith (the inventor of basketball) proud and fans across the globe exhausted and happy with drooping smiles and nodding heads. I cannot wait for the march.

That’s the latest report from the States: Sleet Dallas, Oscars LA and Baskets in the Wings — cold to warm to waiting — climatic, cinematic and collegiate.

Never a dull moment.

Grandpa Jim