197 replies to this topic

[GG Mora]

We've had an unseasonably warm autumn, and I've been waiting desperately for the temperature to drop and for the snow to fly.

Here in Vermont, snow (actually, frozen slop) was predicted for Tuesday night. Instead, it was dark and rained all day yesterday. The river in front of the house (the West River, for the curious) rose dramatically, so that by last night it was raging in haystacks and the roar was well evident from indoors. The cold front finally blew in, behind the low pressure system that had brought the rain. The wind was so strong (30 – 40 mph sustained, with gusts to 70) that there were warnings on the radio, announced by the Emergency Broadcast System with that hair-raising alarm that makes my subconscious think “incoming nukes” until my rational brain takes over. It was one of those nights filled with random crashes and howls, when one wakes in the morning with an anticipatory dread of potential wind damage. Fortunately, there was none in our immediate vicinity, and we didn't lose electricity (which we often do when the wind kicks up). Instead, there was a light dusting of snow.

The extended forecast is for continued cold, with the possibility of light snow for the next 4 or 5 days.

I don't dread the winter, as so many Northeasterners seem to, nor do many of my friends and neighbors. It's simply a fact of life, and I daresay we come prepared for it. “Getting Ready for Winter” is an identifiable season here, comprising the laying in of firewood (by whatever means), the placement in strategic locations of winter clothing and footwear, of shovels and snowbrooms and ice scrapers. Come the first snow of merit, repair garages are flooded with phone calls, for appointments to mount and balance snow tires. The plowboys make sure their plows are hitched, homeowners mark the parameters of their driveways with poles and sticks, pots and piles of sand and gravel are made ready. Snowblowers are dragged out, tuned up, greased and gassed. When a big snowstorm hits, when we wake in the morning to 10” of fresh and it's still coming down in buckets, life doesn't grind to a halt. It slows a bit, we take more care. We get up half an hour early so we can dig out the car, clear away the plow piles, get an early start on the road. It's an early morning meditation.

Let winter do its worst, I say. Snow means I can take my exercise out in the woods, instead of in some hermetic gym. Strap on snowshoes or skis, let the dog run wild, let the frost build up in my hair. This is magic: on a clear full-moon night, my husband and I will go out in the woods on our snowshoes after dinner. The quiet and the clarity are restorative. The glittering snow, the shifting shadows – all a sort of hallucination.

It's here, my friends. It's winter.

[yvonne johnson]

Nice post GG. I like winter too. We had a very windy day yesterday too in NY--50 mph, I heard. When I was out, a man on his bike couldn't keep straight.

[Wilfrid1]

Unseasonably warm works for me. Also dry.

[mongo_jones]

winter in boulder is beautiful. the snow is clean, the air is crisp and the sun comes out on even the coldest days. between the altitude and the wind effects caused by the flatirons snow doesn't stay piled up very long (we only had to shovel 4-5 times last winter). we got about 4 inches last weekend--i love it. makes driving fun though for this pair from l.a, one of whom is out of india.

[cabrales]

I love the wintertime. It's the time when the temperature and the wind on one's face makes one feel particularly alert. When even the splash of water on one's face in the mornings seems more vibrant. When there are long weekends and holidays to go and visit one's family. When there are dark nights, from which one can slip into bright, warm restaurants.

It's the time when game becomes available, although quality game is more difficult to find in the US. When white and black truffles abound.

[Daisy]

the temperature and the wind on one's face

That's the part of winter I have a problem with.

[MyKong]

During exams last year, my breaks consisted of shoveling out my driveway every 1 hr or so. I garage my car in an ancient Vermont woodshed but have to do all the shoveling.

Another reason to love winter: cashmere sweaters. I also love scarves.

Another spectular result of winter up here are the rivers. During the winter, they freeze over. Later in March, you begin to see large icebergs swimming down the river, raising levels and creating a slight sense of exciting urgency. My school is literally on the White River. One year during spring exams in May, the river flooded onto a parking lot, taking several students' cars as souivenirs. The administration told the students afterwards as not to interpret their exams.

[GG Mora]

Another spectular result of winter up here are the rivers. During the winter, they freeze over. Later in March, you begin to see large icebergs swimming down the river, raising levels and creating a slight sense of exciting urgency.

Two years ago in early spring, an ice dam* formed out in front of our house. Another ice damn formed about 3/4 mile upriver from us. My husband and I were standing out on the deck enjoying the warm sunshine, when suddenly we heard load booming sounds, like thunder coming on. Just as we figured out that it was ice chunks crashing into the supports of the bridge down on the road, we saw a surge of water and ice boulders come crashing into the ice dam, which began to inch forward, then quicken, then suddenly burst. The ice dam upriver had given way, and the surge caused the level of the river out front to rise nearly 10 feet in an instant. It was fucking spectacular.

*For the uninitiated, an ice dam forms when the river ice begins to break up, often in huge chunks, the size of small cars, and the chunks catch on the river bottom or rocks and pile up against one another, effectively damming the river.

[Lippy]

I don't mind the cold that much, but I do mind the lessening of the light. For that reason, I loathe the month of December. I bought a couple of full-spectrum lamps for my office, and I've found that I am slightly less depressed than usual this year, although the flourescent glow is kind of depressing the rest of the year.

[Rose]

I don't mind the cold that much, but I do mind the lessening of the light. For that reason, I loathe the month of December. I bought a couple of full-spectrum lamps for my office, and I've found that I am slightly less depressed than usual this year, although the flourescent glow is kind of depressing the rest of the year.

Nah, its not the lights, its the company

[hollywood]

Meanwhile in Los Angeles....

If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.
They might as well be dead,
If the rain comes, if the rain comes.


It's raining.

[hollywood]

It's been raining so much in LA, I'm reminded of all the wet scenes Howard Hawks did in The Big Sleep.

[ranitidine]

I don't mind the cold that much, but I do mind the lessening of the light.  For that reason, I loathe the month of December.  I bought a couple of full-spectrum lamps for my office, and I've found that I am slightly less depressed than usual this year, although the flourescent glow is kind of depressing the rest of the year.

Nah, its not the lights, its the company

Hey, just a minute, you. I just saw this.

[hollywood]

I don't mind the cold that much, but I do mind the lessening of the light.  For that reason, I loathe the month of December.  I bought a couple of full-spectrum lamps for my office, and I've found that I am slightly less depressed than usual this year, although the flourescent glow is kind of depressing the rest of the year.

Nah, its not the lights, its the company

Hey, just a minute, you. I just saw this.

Your cold should be over in about a week.

[ranitidine]

I don't mind the cold that much, but I do mind the lessening of the light.  For that reason, I loathe the month of December.  I bought a couple of full-spectrum lamps for my office, and I've found that I am slightly less depressed than usual this year, although the flourescent glow is kind of depressing the rest of the year.

Nah, its not the lights, its the company

Hey, just a minute, you. I just saw this.

Your cold should be over in about a week.

From your lips to my sinuses' ears.