Winter through my Window

It’s Friday afternoon and the middle of February. The forecast has been calling for snow showers tonight and then changing into the wet cold precipitation by morning. I am sitting in my office in front of my favorite big window and I’m watching the snow begin to fall. It seems as though the meteorologist have once again speculated and got the timing a little off for the winter weather. It was supposed to come in tonight and throughout the day tomorrow, but here it is mid-afternoon and we are seeing the flakes fall. That being said the white flakes falling look beautiful as it begins to coat the nearby housetops and yards. It is said that no two snowflakes are the same, that doesn’t seem to matter when you are sliding down a hill on top of it or shoveling it from your walkway so you can make a path to the garage or the trash can. There seems to be a peace that surrounds one when the snow begins to fall and the earth is covered in a carpet of white.

  This year, it seems that in the United States we have been given an extra dose of the white stuff in most all areas of this great country. The northeast has been blanketed with almost one hundred inches and the southland has had its share of maybe not snow everywhere but frigid weather all the way down to sunny Miami. Welcome to winter. I like to see the snow, of course in moderation, however I feel we need to see snow during the winter months to fully appreciate spring. I personally do not mind some cold weather as long as it stays cold and not warm up and then go back to cold. Mother Nature please be consistent when you punish us with winter. Nothing is prettier than seeing nature when it is covered in white. A fox bouncing in the snow looking for food or deer slowly making their way in a snowfall gives one a sense of serenity of kindness and hope. I have a beautiful Rhododendron in the back yard and the snow lying on the bush is a beautiful sight as its leaves droop from the cold. It seems to be sleeping and building up energy for its brilliant introduction to spring. Spring, now that’s a pleasant thought.

  In the cold winter month’s people tend to spend more time indoors, especially older people. The cold is hard on everyone, but the older I get the less and less I can handle the brisk wind and low wind chill factor. Believe me when I tell you that the trip to the mail box is lengthy when the wind is blowing and the cold affects the bones. Growing up we stayed outside playing after school in freezing weather, my paper route kept me in the ice and snow storms, the colder it was the faster I pedaled that bicycle to get home. Our faces would be red and chapped but we never said it’s too cold to go outside; we bundled up and went out to play.

  As I age my priorities seem to change, things that I may not have thought about or were concerned with, now becomes a factor in my life. This past week, the weather has really been rough and as I watch the news I think about those who are not as warm and safe as me and my family. I think about those who are not fortunate enough to have a place to go or can’t get into a shelter because there is no room to house them. I wonder how it feels to be that cold and that desolate. Five people have lost their lives to date in this area of Tennessee and it hurts my heart to know they died alone, cold without food and cover. Some died on the street due to cold and others in their home where they had no heat.  I wonder how people did it in the old days, when there was no indoor heating, only a fireplace to heat an area that was probably a one room dwelling. What about the cowboys and Indians that lived in the elements and didn’t have anything but their bed roll or teepee to keep warm. I don’t think any of us could go back to a time when our luxuries were not plentiful, and we could call the heating guy and schedule a time to fix our systems and hope he can come quicker than he said. Our vehicles have heated seats and blowing heat that radiates from the massive engine that supplies the power to our machine, we depend on these items for our everyday living. In a small town above Cleveland, there is a group of people who are part of the Mennonite community and they travel in horse drawn buggies with no lights and open sides. The only modern piece of equipment on their vehicle is the red triangle reflector that lets motorist know they are on the road with them. I can only imagine the horse’s thoughts as the man enters the barn and grabs the bridle to hook him up, no not in this weather. All my life I have heard the phrases, good things come to those who wait and patients is a virtue, well I am patiently waiting for the bright spring colors to blanket the earth and the feeling of a new beginning to hit us all as the white gives way to brilliant colors of flowers blooming and birds singing. Spring, what a pleasant thought as I sit here writing and looking out my window at the gray, puffy and cloudy skies looming outside.  The groundhogs I think hold a convention each year and agree to confuse us all as to when we can expect the season to change. One thing is sure, in a few weeks we will hear the shout of Play Ball as the spring baseball season will begin and we will shed that heavy parka for a lighter jacket or sweater, hit the links and cuss that little white ball as we chase it down the fairway. See winter is not all bad, with winter comes the hope of spring and the grass growing to help us use all that time that we have left over after the honey do’s.

 

“Life Happens”