slow dance with winter

last year, winter was in a good mood, almost the whole time she stayed. granted, she's far too vain to ever see that she's worn out her welcome, and always overstays. but last year she did a gentle slow dance with us, trailing lacey skirts and soft white furs, diamonds and pearls over the landscape, coaxing us out to admire and play with her. and, fools that we are, knowing full well how fickle and untrustworthy she has proven herself in the past, we nonetheless fall for her deceitful charms.

we approached her this year, trustingly, eager to play. but this year she's in a foul, foul mood. she taunts and torments, mocks and threatens. she began with rain - and fooled us into thinking she was in a mild frame of mind again. this was immediately followed by heavy layers of snow to hide her icy treachery. more smiles and rain, then the deep freeze; more snow; more rain; more snow. the rain stops, she smiles seductively and purrs, "the skiing is fabulous, dahling. come and play". no sooner do we succumb to her ploys than her clear blue skies send the mercury plummeting so fast you can hear it bounce in the bulb at the bottom of the thermometer.

very early last Thursday morning, after being snowed in and unable to travel to work on Wednesday, i waded through drifts to my armpits to shovel my little old Ford truck (as she's red, a friend has dubbed her Rudolph, the red-nosed Ranger)out of the driveway. then it was... drive till i get stuck, shovel out, drive till i get stuck, shovel out, etc. 1/2 dozen times or so in the 3 blocks to the main road, which had been plowed. though it was -29 C, i was dripping with sweat. and though i'd started at 7 a.m. and it's normally a 15 minute trip, it was 8:30 before i got to the office. if i hadn't had the foresight (and $) to put good winter tires on last autumn, i'd never have got there. and, of late, i go NOWHERE without my snow shovel.

and it's a good 2 months before things can be expected to even begin to melt.

mercy!