Those of you who don’t live where there are seasons; I mean REAL seasons don’t experience the dramatic here-today-gone-tomorrow of the warm summer on the deck and the empty snow-covered deck in six short months.
The laptop and glass of wine move indoors and the wood heater radiates warmth as I look out the window at the wonder of my winter white world. Sounds all smarmy and romantic, doesn’t it.
Winter reality is, well……. kinda different. Crazily slapping and cursing at mosquitoes is replaced by crazily slipping and the graceless fall on your ass on the ice. And it hurts bad.
Winter reality is doing that weird little double tap on the running board of first your right foot and then your left to kick the snow off as you climb in the car. The tricky part is remembering not to do that when you visit your brother in Santa Clara so it doesn’t look like you have OCD. Or not….. he knows me well 🙂
Winter reality is watching the cracks appear and spread like a virus across the windshield from the “sand” on the road. “Sand” that in reality is just rocks. Rocks big enough that with a little mortar could be stood up as a retaining wall. Just saying, Department of Highways; maybe grind it up a little more?
Winter reality is the greeting “how’re the roads?”
Winter reality is moonlight on snow with sparkles in the air like fairy dust that take your breath away from the cold.
Winter reality is that it will switch again in six months to a memory as I sit on the deck in my flower garden with a glass of wine.
dreamingofsquirrels 
Give me the change of seasons anytime…..don’t think I could stand temperate weather all the time.
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I agree….sometimes I think what it must be like to decide which flip flops to wear all year round…..then nah…….I think of the quiet of the winter snow.
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Well described! May I add… that unique crunch as your footsteps compress that pristine new coating of marshmallow snow; the carpet of little sparklies on the bare pavement that warn you that just around the corner, someone’s going to need a pull out of the ditch; watching your words come out in clouds; your eyes tearing up in the extreme cold, then freezing into eyelashicles; the Northern Lights; listening to random trees crack in the cold; your ski goggles icing up on the inside; the incredible unique clarity and brightness of the stars on a black velvet winter night sky; salting your walkway; hitting the woodshed door with a snowball, just to hear the sound… and to test your arm to see if the old guy’s still got it; that horrible feeling when you drive out of the garage and realize you forgot to unplug the block heater; the beautifully haunting sound of the ice on the lake singing as it expands against it self in the serious cold; that feeling you can only get when you hear the roof and nearby trees creaking in the wind as you watch moonlit snowflakes the size of quarters fly by your bedroom window sideways… thank you for your imagery… and for triggering mine.
Sent from my iPhone
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Beautifully said, my friend. You captured winter with your words. Many thanks for sharing.
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