The Teeth of Winter

 

The credit for this picture goes to my friend Jenyfra Nelson, she thought that the words to my  poem fit her picture so she put them on it. I have to agree with her!  This was a snow several years ago before she moved to a different part of the state.

This was just a hot chocolate that I had one snowy cold afternoon recently. It was more of a windy kind of day with flurries so I was alone waiting for my loved ones to return home from work and daycare.  It was delcious!

                                               
This was a recent snow event.  It wasn't much, just a couple of inches but enough to be annoying and also pretty up the ground with a fresh coat of white.  The poem is from a couple years ago, but  I really like it so put it on this picture to share it.  It makes me laugh with the little bit of snark at the end. Haha!

We seem to be in the teeth of winter now.  Temperatures are below freezing most of the time and snowy, icy weather threatens every few days which is to be expected in January. My least favorite kind of storm is the wintry mix, which is what we seem to get the most of the past few years.  It includes accumulating snow, sleet, freezing rain, plain rain, and then the temperatures tumble and it ends as either layers if snow and ice or a frozen slightly slushy mess that if not cleared away before sunset freezes into lumps of ice which can only be removed by Mother Nature.  There are spots on my street and driveway that do not get much if any sun until sometime mid-February when it is higher in the sky.  I use lots of ice melter in this kind of weather.  Of course, at some point, probably in February, we will likely be in for a huge (to me) amount of snow of 18+ inches.  It’s pretty while it’s falling and spectacular when freshly fallen and the sun hits it.  At that point it sparkles like billions of diamonds and looks like a lovely Christmas card;  but then the realization hits that we must go outside and wield a snow shovel and clear off the cars and we begin grumbling about the “stupid snow”.  Like most everything else in life there’s good and not so great things about it.  The squawking heads on the television news really hype the storms that head for us, and the weather casters can barely contain themselves with the excitement leading up to and reporting during the storms.  I suppose it’s a relief to have a weather event to talk about rather than when it’s tranquil with perhaps a light breeze, sunshine and temperatures that are mild for the season but still within the norm.  They must get a little bit bored by quiet weather maps.  We do tend to give credit for weather to the forecasters on the television, as if they had any control over it.  Nice weather?  Thank you weatherman!  Rain on my picnic?  Thanks a lot, weatherwoman, sheesh!  Snow on the way? Geez, weather-people, what do you have against us?  It’s pretty funny that we do that.  They have no more control over the weather than anyone does, guess it’s a case of blaming the messenger. 

               When it’s very cold all the time I look for things to keep me cozy and warm.  Sweatshirts and hand crocheted blankets on the couch are good for that, as is sipping tea or hot chocolate (don’t forget marshmallows and whipped cream on it!) while reading a good book or watching a movie on TV.  Some people snuggle up with a pet to help chase away the chill and dullness of a gray wintry day, and some head out to the kitchen to make soup or bake cookies; all great ways to feel cozy and warm and a bit more cheerful while we wait for Spring to begin.  Some people use the inside time to start seedlings they can plant outside once the ground thaws and the sun warms everything again.  It’s something nice to look forward to and a great reminder that winter doesn’t last forever.  In a few weeks the snow will melt, the sun will be warm, and plants will begin to grow again.  Until then, stay cozy in whatever way you can.

Never Ending Winter

 

               

This winter season feels as if it will never end. I know many people feel the same way. We’ve been dealing with this pandemic for a year now, and it’s been almost a year since I went to work.  One year ago today I was out to lunch with a group of childhood friends and when we were saying our goodbyes we vowed to get together once a month.  It hasn’t happened due to the COVID related restrictions.  Maybe in a few months we can do it again, but it remains to be seen how comfortable everyone is with getting together.  I think that it’s going to take some time before I’m able to put potential health risks aside and enjoy a gathering of people I don’t live with. I’m hoping for some type of family gathering for Easter, but it remains to be seen if all parties involved will be up for it.  It’s been months since I have seen anyone besides supermarket and pharmacy workers or medical professionals in person. It’s been longer than that since I’ve seen someone’s entire face.

               The snow storms have come nearly one every few days and a couple of them lasted two or three days.  The roads around here have been narrowed by snowbanks and driving through an intersection became a test of faith weeks ago. The weariness of snow clearing is showing in how early we fall asleep and how achy our bodies are.  It’s tough clearing the cobwebs out of my head in the morning when all is gray and dark.  I find myself turning on as many lights as possible in the house during the day just to feel awake.  We did have a couple of days featuring sunshine and temperatures in the low 40’s which helped whittle away some of the collected snow before the next storm blew in and dumped copious amounts of the frozen white stuff on us.  It felt good on those more temperate days to go outside and walk in the driveway in the sun for a few minutes.  The one good thing is that as we head toward the end of winter, even if the air remains cold the sun gets a little stronger every day.  I find that standing in the warm sun gives me hope that soon we will be able once again to spend some time outdoors without bundling up and shivering.

               As I hibernate here in my house during this long, lonely winter I spend my time (in between caring for my daughter) alternately reading and watching crime dramas. Shoveling snow actually began to feel good while I was doing it because it was something different and got me outside for a little while.  I will be very glad when at last the snow melts and I can carry a chair to the patio to enjoy an afternoon outside reading or visiting with friends and family, and listening to music.  Come on spring!

A Storm's A-comin'!

 

               For days the weather people have been predicting a storm for our area.  They are quite dramatic about it all, starting with about a week out hinting that there could be some activity in about a week.  As the days go by they tantalize viewers with all the possibilities shown by the various computer models they use.  About three days out they start warning of “significant” snow fall and “plowable” totals, but show the highest amounts in an area that typically doesn’t see that much accumulation. As we get closer to the actual formation of the storm they start moving the highest totals away from their first favored area until at last, hours before the storm is to hit they inform us that the typically hardest hit areas are once again to expect the highest amounts of precipitation. Then, just to keep the drama going, they raise the amounts every couple of hours.  They are excited!  The news teams start going out to do reports on how well the road crews are prepared to keep the roads safe and clear while urging people to stay home once the flakes start to fall.  Mayors hold news conferences to inform the fair citizens of their town or city of the upcoming storm, preparations, emergency plans, and to urge everyone to stay off the roads.  With the explosion of social media platforms even mayors of small towns can send out a video or live stream to the townsfolk to keep them up to date. 

It seems a crazy thing when I think back to when I was a kid (at the risk of sounding like an old lady) and we looked out the window to see what was happening, and listened to our local radio station to find out if school was closed. That was it, all the warning we had.  I don’t recall anyone running out to the store before a storm to “stock up” on anything since we usually had whatever we needed already on hand.  There was food in the house, and we had snow shovels and rock salt to melt any icy areas already.  A snow storm was an event, but not as dramatically so as it is now.  We went outside to play in the snow; snowman and fort building, sledding, snow ball fights, snow angels, tramping paths through deep snow and chasing each other through them were all the fun we needed.  We even used to get cereal bowls, fill them with snow and go back in the house to top it with sugar and food dye to make snow ice cream.  It was fun!  That is how I remember snow storms, just fun with no big build up or stress.  It was just something that happened in the winter.  When the storm was over we measured it to see how much there was, put on boots, coats, hats and gloves and got on with life.

Our storm started this afternoon, ahead of schedule, and it looks to be settling in for a relatively long time, a couple of days’ worth of snow according to the reports.  Medical offices have cancelled all appointments, town halls and libraries are closed, schools are closed and are planning for remote learning only for the day after snowmageden.  Before the pandemic and schools even having remote learning, the day after would have been a delayed opening to give road crews, buildings and grounds for the schools, teachers and support personnel time to get their cars cleared to go to work. I guess having the remote option eases some of the stress of trying to dig out of deep snow early in the day, so that’s a plus. We will very likely end up watching tv coverage of the storm where they will interview plow drivers, people out on the road and at stores “stocking up to hunker down”, and as things progress they will live stream driving around in their news vans to demonstrate in real time how dangerous driving is in these conditions.  There will be the obligatory snow pictures on social media as we remind ourselves and each other that although big storms are inconvenient and can be dangerous, there is still beauty to the falling snow.

Snow in February

Roaring winds bend frozen trees

Wind chimes dance along

White winter brings us to our knees

As nature sings its song

We huddle under blankets

Through the dark of night

When dawn breaks we look outside

At a sparkling frosted sight.

We sigh and take a welcome sip

Of our steaming brew

Knowing soon we'll be part of it

We've got shoveling to do.

From 2/15/15

Winter morning cold and gray,

Thus begins another day,

Rain is forecast for the eve,

If weather forecasts we believe,

We cannot change what weather comes,

We must accept it and carry on.

From 2010

Normally, these poems would be appropriate to our area in February.  This year, however, we have not had much snow, ice or freezing temperatures with roaring winds. I'm glad of that! I know that we could still get a period of typical winter weather, but as we're at the end of the month, and the sun gets stronger every day, it wouldn't last for long.  It's not that it's been very warm; most days are in the 40's, but above freezing for the most part once the sun is up.

When I was growing up we almost always had deep snow in February.  I remember being outside with my brothers sledding and building big snowmen, building snow forts and having snowball fights and making snow angels.  I don’t see many snowmen any more when we do have deep snow.  I guess kids around here aren’t spending much time outside playing in the yard, with so many ways to spend time on electronic devices.  We also used to have a week off from school in February around Presidents Day, it was called Winter Break.  Some families went to Florida on that break, and I used to envy the tans they all had when school resumed.  They had spent the week in the sunshine and warmth, while I was home playing in the snow with my brothers.  Now I’m glad when we don’t have snow, as shoveling it, and putting down ice melter so we don’t slip and fall are not as much fun. One thing I do miss is taking a walk in the snow.  I used to go out for a walk when it was snowing, with my mother when I was young, and alone once I was grown and out on my own.  There’s something peaceful in the falling snow, whitening the landscape, and falling softly on your face.  I used to stop and look up into the sky, staring until I felt like I was a snowflake floating in the air, destined to land softly on a tree branch.  Sometimes I’d like to try that again, but the softness of the couch and warmth of a cup of tea and a snuggly blanket usually beckon me more than my boots and coat do. 

Every season is different, as is every year. I’m happy this winter season has been mostly snow and ice free.  The older I get, the less I enjoy wintry weather, especially if I need to go out in it.

French Toast or Stuffing?

Tuesday Haiku

A storm is coming
Thanksgiving is coming too
French toast or stuffing?

 

Think about it.

--from 11/25/14

Two days before Thanksgiving the weather forecasters predicted a storm to hit our area the morning of the day before Thanksgiving.  Of course, since they are based in New York City, at first they said rain, possibly mixing with some wet snow with no major accumulation on the roads, some accumulation in the higher elevations well north and west of the city (us!).   I don’t know what happens where you live when a winter storm is on the way, but around here most of the population panics and runs to the supermarket to stock up on bread, milk and eggs.  I used to work at one of our local supermarkets and so I can attest to this first hand.  I do not understand this phenomenon as unless a major blizzard is expected we are really only inconvenienced for a few hours by unplowed roads, generally 18 hours at most. People stock up like they’ll be snowed in for a week at least.  So it was that I got to wondering if the stores would have enough bread to supply everyone because turkey stuffing is made with bread, a snowstorm staple it seems, and with one on the way perhaps there would be reports of a bread shortage and then people would have to choose which to have—French toast during the storm or stuffing on the big day? I watched the news anxiously the next day, and kept an eye on social media but there were no reports of a bread shortage.  Two of my relatives reported, however, that Tuesday evening there were only a couple quarts of milk left (skim, to boot!) by 7:00 and a few loaves of bread.  No report on the eggs but I’m sure there were enough to go around.  Of course if the holiday had been Easter the eggs might have been in short supply and folks would have needed to decide between coloring hard cooked eggs to color for Easter baskets and egg hunts or their snow French toast.  One of the aforementioned relatives also reported that another supermarket’s parking lot was full with cars waiting for spots to empty out.  That much business usually happens the day before a holiday as well as before a storm so I can only imagine how busy they had been all day.  I also heard anecdotally that the day before Thanksgiving, in the height of the 8” or so of heavy wet snow we received, the local supermarket was not busy at all.  See, we (around here for the most part) are wimpy in comparison with places such as Buffalo, NY where our 8” probably made them laugh because they had about 7 feet last week. Around here, it’s a big deal and I watched a town pickup with snowplow attached get stuck in the snow on my street the other day.  He finally backed down the hill to the highway and went up a street he’d already successfully cleared before making a pass down our road.  Last year two plows got stuck at the top of my street on the corner; a big snowplow was the first to get stuck and then the pickup tried to help and they were stuck facing each other a few feet apart.  That was something to see at 5:00 a.m.  They were stuck at the top of my street and I was on my phone with my husband who was stuck in his car at the other end trying to get out onto the highway to attempt his 40 plus mile commute to work.  A man who lives in the house at that end came out with a shovel and made a path for him to drive his car through the snowbank to get onto the highway.  There really was quite a lot of snow last year.  I’m hoping this year will not be quite as snowy.  Although I’m sure the grocers and suppliers of bread, milk and eggs wouldn’t mind!