The Winter Blah Blah Blahs

Winter is fast approaching and with that comes the gripes & complaints about the weather. Bear in mind that I live in the North Country where the temperature often falls below freezing from now until April. If you don't like the weather here in the wintertime, you're gonna need to either renew your valium prescription or move to a new zip code. Face it, the weather here is often bitter cold, blustery & moderately snowy.

I work with the public and sometimes I wish I were deaf so I wouldn't have to hear people complaining about snow & the cold. In fact, I would be filthy rich if I had a nickel for every time someone complained about both! The forecast tomorrow is for cold temps and possible snow showers; nothing serious, but you'd think they were forecasting a freaking blizzard by the moans & groans I heard today.

So I say find something to enjoy about the winters instead of kvetching about the weather. There's plenty to do outdoors and in the snow: ice skating, snowshoeing, downhill skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, ice fishing, snowball fights, dog sledding, x-country skiing, building snowmen and playing pond hockey! When I was a kid, we went ice skating on an outdoor rink, sledding at the country club and downhill skiing every Sunday at a local ski resort. We dug tunnels through the snow and had massive neighborhood snowball wars. Afterwards we'd always warm up with a steaming cup of hot cocoa topped off with tons of marshmallows!

If you don't enjoy being outdoors, go to the library, write letters (not emails), go to the movies, knit a scarf, go bowling, join a gym, go to an indoor pool or waterpark, play tennis, racquetball, volleyball, basketball, walleyball or even soccer. Do something to take your mind off how cold it is outdoors. And for godsakes, don't talk about the weather UNLESS you have something positive to say.

Lastly remember how fortunate we are here in the Northeast not to have weather related calamities like hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, twisters, heatwaves, earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires, or even avalanches. Meanwhile enjoy the world around you and give snow a chance!

p.s. Thanksgiving is only two weeks away, so I want you all to find something to be thankful for regarding the climate where you live then practice that everyday, especially when you're in the checkout line!