Warmth

They came down out of the sky over the weekend, 46 pilots from as far away as Connecticut and Washington, D.C., to bring warm clothing for the homeless to Chester County Airport. "Wings of Warmth," sponsored by a group of area fliers, donated 250 large bags of clothing to several area organizations that serve the homeless. Among the recipients during the two-day fly-in were the Friends Shelter of West Chester, the First Seventh Day Adventist Church Shelter of Coatesville, the YWCA of Coatesville, the Salvation Army of West Chester and the Pottstown Community Service Center.

Kelli Dayton's outfit alone was worth the price of admission at the Five Spot on Monday night. Looking like a punk-rock kewpie doll, the tiny front woman for English trip-hoppers Sneaker Pimps was dressed in an aqua tank top with a sheriff's badge pinned to her chest, a big cowboy belt, a sequined miniskirt, and glittery, strappy high heels. Tattooed on one porcelain shoulder was a tiger; on the other, "Viva Rock n' Roll. " Also visible was the "CH" of her much-publicized "Chaos" tattoo, which could be spied on her left breast.

The nightlife scene hopes to stave off the goosebumps of late summer by heating it up with lounge openings and sultry soirees. Marbar opened last week above Marathon Grill and is positioned to attract night owls - other than college students - to University City, especially with Lucas Rivera as the resident DJ on Wednesdays. The upscale crowd he catered to at Mojitos during the summer should follow him to 40th and Walnut Streets. You could also head up the Boulevard to Infinity, where Thursdays are Ladies' Night.

Late at night, long after Agnes M. Cadran should have locked the Deegan Real Estate Inc. office on Allegheny Avenue in Port Richmond, you could rap on the window. She'd open the door, invite you inside, sit you in the chair next to the little sign that reads, "What you say here stays here. " And she'd listen. For most of her 80-some years - age is something she considered nobody's business - Agnes Cadran was the neighborhood sounding board, dispensing advice and warmth with a no-nonsense style.

Many people dislike the gray winters in Philadelphia. They find the season bleak and depressing. But I like the winter light; the slanting rays of sunshine that penetrate the ashen skies of December and January are soft and gentle. It is the light in my memories of the cold winters when I was a kid, winters that elicited no thoughts of global warming, winters when we could count on at least a few snowy days to drag our sleds up from the basement and tromp around the neighborhood searching for hills.

Alexa Gorowska was up on a ladder in front of her Woodland Avenue porch yesterday, putting a fresh coat of violet paint on the gingerbread trim of her brick rowhouse. Housepainting? In January? On the very anniversary of Philadelphia's Snowstorm of the Century? "Remember 1996, when there was four feet of snow?" Gorowska said. "Nature's wonderful, isn't it?" Throughout the region, thousands would have been inclined to agree on a day when only the sun's low arc through the sky said this was early winter, not the beginning of spring.

The hearth is the heart of the home. Even without a blaze going, it evokes warmth, comfort and romance. A fireplace dominates a room as no other decorating device can. We design seating arrangements around this natural focal point as much for emotional warmth as for the warmth generated by the dancing flames. And the mantelpiece draws the eye as unerringly as the fire does, a place made for everyday adornment and holidays, when we dress up the fireplace with garlands, ornaments and collectibles.

Scattered periods of warmth were to be found amid generally unsettled weather yesterday. Here, Josh Mitchell and Karen Conkling of Sussex County, N.J., enjoy a breath of fresh air in Logan Circle.

Ladees and gentlemen! In this corner of Fairmount Park we have two gents toning winter-rusted boxing skills as Spring hosts a preview of warmth to come -it reached 63 degrees yesterday.

On the eve of Groundhog Day, the temperatures in the region were perfectly normal - for an April 25 in Philadelphia, or for a Feb. 1 in Los Angeles. For the second consecutive day, temperatures rocketed into the 60s, peaking at 67 at Philadelphia International Airport. While that was shy of the record high, 70, set in 2002, the overnight "low" of 47 represented the highest minimum temperature for a Feb. 1 in Philadelphia - by plenty. The old standard was 42, set way back in 1916.

The groundhog will be ritually roused from his burrow tomorrow morning, but this afternoon he may have been roaming around a golf course somewhere. For the second consecutive day, temperatures rocketed into the 60s, peaking at 67 in Philadelphia. While that was shy of the record high, 70, set in 2002, the overnight "low" of 47 represented the highest minimum temperature for a Feb. 1 in Philadelphia - by plenty. The old standard was 42, set way back in 1916. The balmy start to February follows two months that constituted the seventh-warmest Dec. 1-Jan.

The next two days will be as warm as a normal day in early spring. Today's expected high for Philadelphia is 60 - warmer than the average for any date before April 9. Wednesday could be even a little warmer, with light rain, according to the National Weather Service. The rest of the week will be more normal, with highs in the mid to upper 40s and lows around the freezing mark. The next possibility of snow in the city seems to be a week from Thursday - too far off to take seriously yet. Last night's overnight low of 40 was also springlike, and tonight could even challenge a record.  Not for being low. For being high for a low. Philadelphia's record high for Jan. 31 is 65, set in 1947.

By Michael Carroll When nighttime temperatures start slipping into the 30s, I think about warmth, about keeping one's home and oneself warm, and about the growing number of people who can no longer do that. I spent my first dozen years in a house heated by hand-fired coal. If you had the heat on - and "on" meant a fire in the furnace - the house was warm, even hot. You could tamp down the fire or stoke it up, but there wasn't a thermostat or much fine-tuning. The coal was cheap and locally mined.

As temperatures steamed past 90 for the ninth time this month, about 65 people showed up at the blessedly air-conditioned Upper Darby Senior Center on Tuesday. Suffice to say, the bingo cards were far hotter draws than the treadmills. "They're not doing much exercising today," said Mary Ann Manfre, the Delaware County center's director of senior services. Seeking asylum from the heat has become a familiar drill in a region baking in unusual warmth for the second consecutive summer.

Jeff Courter and Kyle McCrossen say that for a long time, playing college baseball in a warm-weather state such as South Carolina or Virginia was high on their wish list. Sun-splashed afternoons. Off days at the beach or golf course. Year-round outdoor training. All of it was appealing. Gradually, though, the opportunity to play Division I ball close to home, in front of family and friends, grew more and more appealing for the Archbishop Wood senior standouts. Last summer, with that in mind, McCrossen, a smooth-fielding and hard-hitting shortstop, selected Temple, and Courter, a lefthanded pitcher and first baseman, chose Villanova.

The last two Jews in Kabul are old men who profess to hate each other. You're "a lapdog," one man reproaches. You're "a thug," the other responds. Yet no matter what the two men claim, their mutual contempt is the sort that comes from long, deep, and possibly codependent friendship; it's bred by familiarity. They are the subjects of Seth Rozin's poignant, funny Two Jews Walk Into a War, now getting a solid production directed by James Glossman for Rozin's InterAct Theatre.

QUEBEC CITY - There he goes again . . . And again. The public image of Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins, at times, can be that of someone who is arrogant and abrasive. That would be the Hopkins who twice threw a Puerto Rican flag to the floor in the lead-up to his megafight with Felix Trinidad, who shoved Winky Wright's face at a weigh-in, who dismissed Joe Calzaghe as a legitimate threat to him because, B-Hop sneered, "I would never allow myself to get beat by a white boy. " Then there is the more private perception of Bernard Hopkins, the one known only by the rare few who have earned his trust and respect.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). While hosting, you might be going for fun and fabulous, but what really comes through is your sweet warmth. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). You don't practice what you preach, because you don't preach! You've made it a policy to let your actions speak for themselves. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Everyone needs to feel a sense of belonging. You home in on the exact way to do this: You participate. CANCER (June 22-July 22). You wish and dream. That's a start.

The last time this much good energy surged through Audrey Taichman's resto-lounge at the corner of 20th and Manning, it was 1999 and edamame was exotic, wheatgrass was the word in edible table arrangements, and chic was defined by late-night DJs, squared black leather couches, and shiny metal community tables. After 11 years and a pretension-humbling recession, though, even Taichman concedes that trendy old Twenty Manning was getting tired. So she and her business partner, chef Kiong Banh, decided to go for a homey change.