Thursday, February 24, 2005
Snow is a Four Letter Word
Have I ever explained exactly how I feel about snow?? Living in Maryland for all of my fifty some years, one would think a person would be accustomed to snow events. Yes you get used to watching large white wet flakes fall relentlessly from the skies at least a couple of times a year and some people actually find it not only beautiful, but fun to go out in. To those people I have just one thing to say...Are you out of your minds??!!!!
Snow is only pretty on postcards and Christmas cards. Maybe the first snow of the year is mildly attractive as long as it doesn't require shoveling. Beyond that, there is no redeeming quality to snow that I can think of. Even as a child I didn't find snow to be an alluring playground. I can recall trying to explain to my mother that I didn't want to go out and play in the snow with the other kids since to my mind it was just wet and cold and I was perfectly content being dry and warm. Besides, just the thought of being stuffed into the necessary snow clothing made me wince with pain. Who the heck can maneuver wearing 30 pounds of waterproof gear and a hat that insists on sliding down over your eyes. I mean it's like seeing the Michelin man in a skullcap and boots!!! And the mittens.....who's bright idea was that. Let's just stick all our fingers in one wool sack leaving the thumb separate and grab handfulls of wet snow. The result....wet wool and frozen fingers.
I honestly tried to like the snow but it has the same appeal to me as weeding gardens. By the time you get done fooling with it, you're tired, sore and just plain cranky. Just like the weeds that start inching back up the minute you turn your back, the snow insists on re-covering the sidewalk and driveway you just spent an hour clearing!! By the time you finish that well-deserved cup of hot cocoa, it looks as if you hadn't sent your back into spasms shoveling a path at all.
In case you're wondering what could possibly have provoked this outburst, I'll fill you in. Just this morning my husband left to play a softball tournament in Melbourne Florida. He loves to rub it in as he leaves about how hot he'll get while he's away and isn't it just a shame it's cold at home. So when I awoke at 5:30 this morning to be greeted by falling snow, I was less than thrilled. As I sat in our office watching the progress of the snowfall, 4 inches by noon, contemplating the prospect of cleaning off my car, driving home and shoveling snow, thoughts of inflicting bodily harm on my spouse played in my mind. After the last two years of snowfall during which he's managed to be in Florida, I swore I'd never, ever shovel snow again!!! So doesn't it just figure??!!
The only thing that's put a smile on my face all day is knowing that I'll be in warm, sunny Florida next Thursday and I may just have to make good on my promise this year.........if it snows while he's gone, I'm going to Florida and not coming back till Spring!!
Have I ever explained exactly how I feel about snow?? Living in Maryland for all of my fifty some years, one would think a person would be accustomed to snow events. Yes you get used to watching large white wet flakes fall relentlessly from the skies at least a couple of times a year and some people actually find it not only beautiful, but fun to go out in. To those people I have just one thing to say...Are you out of your minds??!!!!
Snow is only pretty on postcards and Christmas cards. Maybe the first snow of the year is mildly attractive as long as it doesn't require shoveling. Beyond that, there is no redeeming quality to snow that I can think of. Even as a child I didn't find snow to be an alluring playground. I can recall trying to explain to my mother that I didn't want to go out and play in the snow with the other kids since to my mind it was just wet and cold and I was perfectly content being dry and warm. Besides, just the thought of being stuffed into the necessary snow clothing made me wince with pain. Who the heck can maneuver wearing 30 pounds of waterproof gear and a hat that insists on sliding down over your eyes. I mean it's like seeing the Michelin man in a skullcap and boots!!! And the mittens.....who's bright idea was that. Let's just stick all our fingers in one wool sack leaving the thumb separate and grab handfulls of wet snow. The result....wet wool and frozen fingers.
I honestly tried to like the snow but it has the same appeal to me as weeding gardens. By the time you get done fooling with it, you're tired, sore and just plain cranky. Just like the weeds that start inching back up the minute you turn your back, the snow insists on re-covering the sidewalk and driveway you just spent an hour clearing!! By the time you finish that well-deserved cup of hot cocoa, it looks as if you hadn't sent your back into spasms shoveling a path at all.
In case you're wondering what could possibly have provoked this outburst, I'll fill you in. Just this morning my husband left to play a softball tournament in Melbourne Florida. He loves to rub it in as he leaves about how hot he'll get while he's away and isn't it just a shame it's cold at home. So when I awoke at 5:30 this morning to be greeted by falling snow, I was less than thrilled. As I sat in our office watching the progress of the snowfall, 4 inches by noon, contemplating the prospect of cleaning off my car, driving home and shoveling snow, thoughts of inflicting bodily harm on my spouse played in my mind. After the last two years of snowfall during which he's managed to be in Florida, I swore I'd never, ever shovel snow again!!! So doesn't it just figure??!!
The only thing that's put a smile on my face all day is knowing that I'll be in warm, sunny Florida next Thursday and I may just have to make good on my promise this year.........if it snows while he's gone, I'm going to Florida and not coming back till Spring!!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
It never ceases to amaze me how time can go by so quickly. Although it seems like merely days since I last posted an article, it has actually been over a month. I have no viable excuse, but, as usual, I do have a theory to explain this lapse in productivity.
At first I thought that perhaps my brain had just run low on energy and needed a jump start so I proceeded to spend 10 lazy days at our house in Florida in some attempt to awaken my concious thought process. I found relaxing easy, in fact way too easy. The first few days were spent enjoying the sight of sunshine and palm trees with coherent thought far from a priority. Actually it took at least three days just to warm up from the frigid Maryland temperatures in January. Florida was experiencing a colder than normal spate of weather while I was there and I can remember chuckling as the news people lamented the "bone-chilling" air. Granted a low of 40 degrees seems cold to Floridians but a high in the 50's during the day can hardly be considered "bone-chilling" to one used to highs in the 30's.
And so I excused my lack of productivity as a low brain battery and being just plain weary of work and cold weather. I even attempted writing an article while in Florida but found putting sentences together drained what little brain function I seemed to have left. When asked by my sister where I would like to have lunch, I looked at her as if asked something in a language I had never heard before....similar to the tilted-head looks my dog gives me when I ask her a question.
Apparently she expected me to "think" which seemed way above my abilities at the time.
After my ten day escape from reality, I returned home to definite bone-chilling temperatures and a little snow just for good measure. Landing in Baltimore to gray, cold skies and several inches of fallen snow, I not so silently wished for the pilot to return to the runway and whisk me back to Florida. Unfortunately, we pulled into the gate and I reluctantly made my way outside......brrrrr!!!
Thawing out has again taken considerable time and I have come to the conclusion that my brain has gone into hibernation, not to awaken again until the temperatures rise into more human-friendly readings. Thankfully we are experiencing a wave of warmer weather but not being an eternal optomist, I fully expect to relapse into my brain freeze before the winter is over. After all, didn't the groundhog see his shadow??
At first I thought that perhaps my brain had just run low on energy and needed a jump start so I proceeded to spend 10 lazy days at our house in Florida in some attempt to awaken my concious thought process. I found relaxing easy, in fact way too easy. The first few days were spent enjoying the sight of sunshine and palm trees with coherent thought far from a priority. Actually it took at least three days just to warm up from the frigid Maryland temperatures in January. Florida was experiencing a colder than normal spate of weather while I was there and I can remember chuckling as the news people lamented the "bone-chilling" air. Granted a low of 40 degrees seems cold to Floridians but a high in the 50's during the day can hardly be considered "bone-chilling" to one used to highs in the 30's.
And so I excused my lack of productivity as a low brain battery and being just plain weary of work and cold weather. I even attempted writing an article while in Florida but found putting sentences together drained what little brain function I seemed to have left. When asked by my sister where I would like to have lunch, I looked at her as if asked something in a language I had never heard before....similar to the tilted-head looks my dog gives me when I ask her a question.
Apparently she expected me to "think" which seemed way above my abilities at the time.
After my ten day escape from reality, I returned home to definite bone-chilling temperatures and a little snow just for good measure. Landing in Baltimore to gray, cold skies and several inches of fallen snow, I not so silently wished for the pilot to return to the runway and whisk me back to Florida. Unfortunately, we pulled into the gate and I reluctantly made my way outside......brrrrr!!!
Thawing out has again taken considerable time and I have come to the conclusion that my brain has gone into hibernation, not to awaken again until the temperatures rise into more human-friendly readings. Thankfully we are experiencing a wave of warmer weather but not being an eternal optomist, I fully expect to relapse into my brain freeze before the winter is over. After all, didn't the groundhog see his shadow??
