is for-
I Hate Winter!!!Winter stinks! Iknow,I don't sound very grown-up, but the older I get the more attaiment I am in my conviction!Winter is for the birds! (Oh thats funny, even they head south!) I don't know whats happened to me? I jokingly tell people that I don't truly thaw out and become human again until the temps reach 80!! It's true! Does the blood really thin? The romance of winter has left. It doesn't exist.
I had great winters growing up in Maryland and New York. The most memorable winters being those of New York. We lived in a suburb of Albany,called Guilderland.Our family
lived there for several years. I remember those winters with great fondness. The mounds of snow that the plows left behind stood many,many feet above my small head. The schools were closed down often. The wind blew snow horizontally. The pond down the street froze so hard that we could ice skate on it for months! Sledding hills were as numerous as the elves in Santas workshop. The bus stop seemed so far away on mornings when wind and sleet and snow were raging down. But mostly I remember the wonder of the thigh high snow. I had more wide open spaces to explore than most young tom-girls could dream of exploring. A golf course was being built behind our house. It had been a dense forest before the clearing began. Even so, there seemed to be plenty of the forest left with the addition of wide open spaces in between. I found these open expanses of pristine snow an ideal place to find and follow the perfect impressions of animal tracks. There were so many varieties of paw prints. There were so many different kinds of creatures living just outside my window!
I must have spent hours and hours out there exploring and tracking those critters that I loved so much. It was a magical time for me in that winter wonderland. The world glittered and shined and was clean and new.
Of course I heard the complaints of my folks about the headaches of all this snow. There was the worry of too much snow on the roof or too much snow to shovel from the long driveway. I can of course relate to this completely now, as a 'grown-up.' But for me, it was always a wonderland and an outdoor adventure in Guilderland!!
There was always snow in the winter in Maryland too. Snowmen and sledding and warm cozy sweaters knitted by my mom are the good memories I have of that time in my life.
We moved to California when I was a teenager. I don't remember missing the snow or longing for it, ever. I do recall a time when there was a very rare storm that brought snow to the hills of Los Altos. Friends took a small pickup truck and drove to the hills and filled the bed with snow. The snow was brought back to the high school and a snowball fight ensued. An hour or so of fun was had by the resourseful. It is in California that I learned to ski. In the Serria Mountains at Tahoe! I have now learned that California sking is quite unique. Our youth groups could and would ski in shorts and tee shirts. I don't ever remember being cold in California.
Then came my college years and my move to Idaho and Utah. Once again, I had
winter.It was here that I was intoduced to a whole different kind of skiing. Here I found amazing mountains and resorts and some mighty cold and uncomfortable skiing. Toes froze inside uncomfortable-no torturing-ski boots. (Kids these days have no idea) Wind burned my face and my fingers froze. Winter took on a whole new meaning in Rexburg, Idaho!! (what was I thinking?!!)
As a reflect on it now, I am positive that it is these 2 winters that ruined me for life-as far as cold tolerance is concerned. The hair in your nose froze the instant you stepped outside. Spit froze, as did water thrown from a cup out the front door-
before it hit the ground. Its really true- 'cause I tried it and saw it with my own eyes. I had the warmest coat money could buy and still the bitter cold would freeze me to the core. And oh that wind; there is nothing like the howlling wind hat tore across those wide open plains and potato fields. NOTHING!
Logan, Utah wasn't a whole lot better. I guess my first clue should have been to take heed in just how close it was to the Idaho border! duh! Slip sliding all over campus, rushing to get in line at the Union Center, for a huge, warm slice of homemade bread with honeybutter and hot chocolate. ahhhhhh... I was willing to TRY enjoying outdoor activities during the winter, ie. snowmobeling, and skiing and snowshoeing, and even ice fishing. But as I've already stated, it was all quickly losing its romance and any of the fun factor.
Once I was married, the well of reserve patience for cold,was all but dried up and blown away. I would not choose to be outdoors in the winter. I guess our winters in Oregon were the best. Some mornings there would be a thin sheet of ice on the pond, but it didn't last long. It sure could rain there, but the winters were wonderfully mild.
Coming back to Salt Lake was the straw that broke this camels back. (oh to be a camel) Having young kids, lots of snow, a driveway to shovel, boots, gloves, hats, coats, mittens and scarves to deal with. Runny noses, whining, puddles by the back door...I didn't want to do it any more!!!
Now Im in the desert, a glorious red rock desert, but guess what??? It gets COLD in the winter! Darn it!!!!
I think I may be ready for a move to the equator!!! Poor Bob.
One of my new year resolutions is going to be to read more books! I think this idea will be a fun way to kick off the year, and to get us aquainted with what others are reading. (can I say here how twisted I am- whenever I write the word 'others' I think of LOST!)
