Thursday, February 26, 2015

I'm Tired of Winter


                             

                            
                                         I’m tired of dog’s muddy footprints.
                                         I don’t like to complain and grouse.
                                        Why won’t people remove wet shoes
                                        when they’re coming into the house?

                                         Instead of just orchids blooming,
                                         and the green leaves of plants inside,
                                         I want to see leaves on the trees
                                         and sunlight and flowers outside.

                                         In time spring and summer will come,
                                         since I know it happens each year,
                                         but I’m so tired of boots and coats
                                         I just wish spring would hurry here.

                                         I browse through garden catalogs,
                                         ordering both plants and seeds, too,
                                         forgetting I’ll soon have complaints                            
                                         of too much gardening to do.

Yeah, I’m tired of winter so much so that I wrote a rather simple rhyming poem, something I rarely do. Most of my poetry is more complex with a message without whining and complaining. But I guess it’s just how I’m feeling these days.


In the beginning I embrace winter; Christmas – hopefully a white one – with the ringing bells of Salvation Army people with their red buckets collecting for the needy. All except for the most parsimonious bah humbug people seem to be more generous at the beginning of winter. We donate to the poor with money, food, warm clothes, and we feel good about ourselves and our generosity. Then after all the hustle bustle of the holidays; Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, we relax into a quieter time. For those of us in the northern climates, it’s a time of hibernation, a time of unwinding. I get more writing and reading done.


But then comes February and it seems like winter will never end, especially this year. Enough already! We mumble and complain to others. Was it Punxsutawney Phil? Maybe it’s his fault this has been one of the worse winters in years. More snow, bitter cold, and an inability to go on my daily walks in the woods has me frustrated. Yes, I did get more writing done, but nothing much else. Instead, of bustling about the house cleaning and organizing, a sort of lethargy has set in. I just don’t feel like cleaning. I could be going through my stacks of garden catalogs that started coming last October, but why? Maybe spring won’t come this year, although a few weeks ago on a rare almost balmy day when the snow started to melt for a few hours, I did hear a bird sing. So we are nearer to spring than we were in January, at least. Just maybe it will come.

Maggie is not happy with the frozen snow on her legs.
And there have been good things. My furnace continues to send out heat. A friend of my son’s plows my driveway every time there’s more than an inch of new snow. My electricity hasn’t gone out – at least so far. My canary continues to sing, especially after I give him his daily treat of broccoli or when I wash clothes or run the sweeper.

I enjoy watching the birds at my feeders, although not so much the raiding squirrel. Although it takes six to seven miles before my car starts to warm up, it never fails to start as soon as I turn the key. I don’t spend much time on the phone, but there are more times now as my friends and family compare weather complaints and we talk and laugh about a lot of other things, too. When I meet with my two book clubs or writer’s group, there seem to be more smiles going around as well as laughter, because in some ways, we are all survivors of this winter and share a special bond because of it.



How do you feel about winter?


17 comments:

  1. I know winter will pass, but right now, it's snowing. My sister retired to Florida. I visited her. Came home last night. The first week in Florida was cool but sunny. The last few days, it was in the 80s and swimming weather. What a joy! So, I can't complain. Not only was it a respite from winter, but the airfare and accommodations--cheap! We have one long month to go before things improve. I plan to write my way through the month. Bury in, and slog through March.

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  2. Winter is great to view from a distance. I do love it in small doses, but choose not to partake for a whole season. I miss not being able to cross-country ski and snowshoe, but not enough to give up winters in Savannah.

    ~ Jim

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  3. E.B. at least you got a break from it, and the trip went well with no cancellations or extended layovers. So you're going to be refreshed and ready to write and be able to produce much, I'm sure. Enjoy it.

    Jim, I thought of you last night in your warm climate, but I was picturing you as Seamus in your last book and wondering if you were missing the cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Unfortunately, you can't have both, can you.

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  4. March may not be the cruelest month, but it seems like the longest month of the year, one continuous mud season. We've had bitter cold and snow, but glorious sunshine, too, which makes every day a good day.

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  5. The snow is falling in my area right now. It's pretty to look at from inside a warm house but treacherous to walk on the snow covered ice. I had to cancel a morning appointment because my street hasn't been plowed. While it's annoying to have my plans change, it's fun to have a snow day.

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  6. Margaret, I've enjoyed the sunshine, too, but not the bitter cold weather when I have to break ice out of the ponies buckets and the chickens water dish. Today I'll be delivering Mobile Meals and my car won't warm up for at least seven miles and then I'll be getting out at each stop after rummaging in the two containers - one for the hot meals and one for the cold meals and taking them to each one. Still, I wouldn't give up doing this even in bad weather.

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  7. Kara, yes that makes me a little nervous, too. The way to my barn is ice under a level of snow so I have to be careful. Tonight one of my book clubs is meeting at a restaurant fifteen miles away and it's calling for more snow, so I probably won't be going. They may cancel it and reschedule it for next week. They had to do that last month. It wasn't much better the following week, but at least the roads were a little better.I live on a state highway so they're pretty good about keeping it plowed as much as possible, but there is a shortage of salt, so I think many of the less traveled roads are being ignored. Kind of scary since most of the people I deliver Mobile Meals to are not on state highways.

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  8. Winter has always been my favorite season. I lived in Maine and the north county of New York. These last two years have been horrible. I have tried not to complain too much since I have family and friends in Boston. Delaware has been cold, windy and miserable, but not much snow. The problem with wishing winter away is that it will soon be summer, my least favorite season.

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  9. KB, I really enjoy all the seasons, but not really hot sticky weather so much. At least in the winter I can add more clothes, and as long as my furnace is working I'm comfortable. However, although I feel guilty when Boston and other areas are suffering more than I am, I'm still darn tired of having to bundle up every time I go out and then hurry back in when I'm done because of the wind chill.

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  10. It's hard to feel sorry for myself when I know what is happening in Boston (drat Boston) because the Washington DC area is actually getting a lot of snow - for us anyway! Sunlight sparkling on snow under a winter blue sky is a wonder but driving in this stuff, eh, not so much. I keep telling myself that being in the cold keeps the immune system revved up, so going out to feed your chickens and ponies must be keeping you very healthy, Gloria!

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  11. I'm happy to be retired and not have to worry about driving in the bad weather. The last few years, I worked at an alternative public school, which did close down if it got too bad. Before that, however, I was driving over a mountain to work in a prison. Prisons don't close down in bad weather.

    My husband still teaches one course at the local community college, so he does have to get out unless the college closes it doors. He's going to visit a friend who lives in St. Croix for spring break. They will mostly play golf, and the friend will try to convince him that we really want to move down there, too. If this weather keeps up, some day he may agree!

    We lived in Michigan for a while, which was much colder and had more snow, but we very seldom got the freeze-and-thaw cycle that leads to the treacherous ice we see now. And we could both walk to work.

    Weather is something over which we have absolutely no control, so I figure we just have to make the best of it!

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  12. Don't shoot me. I love winter. OK, I live in Florida, but that's now, I loved it when I lived in the crown of Maine as well. By the way, I understand that New Hampshire has issued a warrant for the arrest of Puxatawny (spelling phonetic) Phil.The transition months were the ones I disliked. Fall after the leaves fell and everything was brown, not for me, then again in the spring just after the snow melt and before the greening starts. Oh, wait, in Maine we call that mud season! So true. I hope all affected areas have an early and glorious spring!

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  13. Kait, I am healthy, however I still wish it would warm up a little more. Today I delivered Mobile Meals. The main roads were clear but the side roads and much of my route is on them are not. With only two more stops to make, I put two meals in a back door basket (They don't want me to knock) and headed for the circular turn around to make my way back to the driveway. I got stuck in a drift. I found a snow shovel and dug for a good ten minutes or more and could not get my little car out. I called AAA, and they said it would be 50 minutes before anyone could get to me. Then the man of the house came home. He shoveled and worked at getting my car out with no luck. Finally, he asked me to come in the house. Where he, his wife, and I had a nice visit. However, when it was time for AAA to show up, I got a call that it would be close to another hour. They offered me lunch, but I said no. Anyway, all told my route lasted almost three hours longer than normal. And yes, it was snowing much of the time after I left home.

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  14. Kait, I meant Shari about being healthy. Shari, we might not be getting as much snow as Boston, but it is still getting to be way too much and for way too long. I want to get back to walking in the woods. So does Maggie.

    Me, too, Warren.

    That's wise, KM. That's why most of the time I deal with it and look at the positive aspects; I have a warm house, I get more writing done while more or less housebound and the snow is beautiful.

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  15. Last year, the snows shut us down twice. This year, they have just missed us. The perpetual anticipation is exhusting. Hibernation sound like a good idea. Stay warm, Gloria!

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  16. I plan on it, Paula. You're lucky they passed you by, although more than the snow, it's the bitter cold weather way below 0 with a windchill factor added to it.

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