Spring?

Spring is almost upon us:  I saw and heard my first red wing black bird this afternoon and I can now see patches of ground where the snow has melted.  I feel a release after a relentless winter.  We broke records for how far the mercury dropped, how long it stayed below zero and the number of inches of snow we accumulated.  Winter sports are fun but no matter what activity I engage in I become cold easily after years of climbing, snow shoeing and fixing houses in freezing temperatures and thawing out my fingers and toes can take hours.

It used to perplex me that people migrated to Florida temporarily or permanently at this time of year.  Now I get it.  This is the last winter I will spend in the northeast without a respite from the cold.  February is the breaking point and next year we will spend one of those four long weeks baking in the sun far south of the Hudson Valley.  Last month I felt as if I were the protagonist in a nineteenth century Russian novel set in a Siberian outpost with Twenty first century conveniences: The pipes froze both at home and in our rental unit (destroying a third of the kitchen), the cars have been parked at the end of the driveway since the end of December (about 50 yards from the front door); between home and the rental house I have shoveled thousands of pounds of snow, due to the ceaseless precipitation the only colors I know are black and white (with the occasional yellow), I have worn the same clothes for weeks on end (changing socks and underwear as needed), I have eaten more chicken and chicken soup for breakfast lunch and dinner for days on end than at any other time in my life, I had long philosophical conversations with the dog and cat about whether or not truth is subjectivity (of course it is.  The dog and I concur but the cat always disagrees), I have burned at least five cords of wood which is good because the propane guys couldn't make it up the driveway due to the three foot drifts of snow and ice that I refused to pay to have removed by plow (I kept thinking they would melt), the fire box of the wood stove crumbled in my hands last week when I had the first opportunity all winter to clean it and it will cost me $750 to fix (parts under warranty no less!), and after the frame of the truck was replaced in January (another recall) the four wheel drive failed and cost $1,200 to fix.  Now I am ready for a vacation.

But I am not complaining.  We survived: neither of us fell on the icy luge run that connected the shoveled portion of the driveway, where we parked our cars, to the front door:  we didn't get the flu, we read some good books (Benjamin Franklin, An American Life by Walter Isaacson was excellent) and we rediscovered yoga.

As winter winds down some people have asked me about the SAD light results.  As I discussed in a blog sometime in February, I purchased a 10,000 LUX UV lamp manufactured by SunTouch Plus to combat the winter blues and I am happy to report that it has become an old friend.  I sat in front of it with a hot cup of tea at 6AM every morning staring into the darkness beyond fairly certain that the sun would rise and that I soon would don four more layers of clothing to meet the day.  The lamp was helpful as evidenced by my continuous lack of a criminal record.  My physical self continues to exist and as the temperatures creep into the forties, I anticipate a return of my conscious self.

Apparently we are getting more snow tomorrow - as much as six inches, but that doesn't bother me because this afternoon I finally put the truck in to four wheel low and rammed my way up to the front door, so nothing can bring my spirits down - unless I can't exit the driveway tomorrow morning.