Bad Weather

Have you ever heard that expression, "There is no bad weather, just bad clothing choices"?  I embrace that. 

Facebook posts from friends in Southern California have them basking in superlatives about the 80 degree weather in January and "Ooh, I am cold, I think I will turn down the air conditioning." (I thought that one was pretty brilliant.)  But I did not feel any envy- none. 

One of the many things I like about living in New York is the weather.  If you don't like this weather just hold on another kind of weather is just around the corner.  I thoroughly enjoy the seasons.  I was just ice skating in Central Park with the chill in the air, a scarf around my neck, warm gloves on my hands and the sun on my face.  The other night I came in from the chill of the icy rain and ate hot soup as the rain clattered against my window.  How do you get that feeling when it there are tank tops and flip flops passing by outside?  You don't.  And tank tops and flip flops will be soon enough.

In my mind January is for snow and chill and slush and layers and scarves and soup and taking a hot steam at the gym.  I do not desire 80 degrees. I desire wool and hot cocoa.

Cold and Magic.

Though we often think of magic as FIRE and SPARKLE and wands that ZAP things into frogs or bunnies, magic occurs in the cold for me.  A sunset on a beach is stunning and pretty, but walking in the snow in a large city with Christmas lights everywhere and hearing the silence all around, that is magic.  Being under loads of covers with a lover while the temps outside are in the 20's, that is magic.  Skiing down a hillside and knowing that you are forced to be in the present and one with the mountain, that is magic.  There is no time to create TO-DO list whilst careening! 

Noticing people scurrying and kids throwing snowballs and Currier and Ives-style sleading in Central Park. That is SO magic.  I have seen it and I wept.  I feel alive in the cold. I feel exhilarated with the chill and the promise of warmth and home and hearth and soup.  SOUP is magic. It just is!  Lovers are magic.  A tree with lights to me is simple joy.  I feel so blessed to have experinced all of this.  And being alive is magic in itself. 



Bundle up.  Put on gloves and a hat and a scarf and notice things.  Really notice. Celebrate the magic.  Take a lover. Get some soup!  Marvel at lights.  Wonder.  Ski.  Sled.  Watch the snow outside the window of the Met. 

In Like a Lion

March. What to make of it?  How can this be, this March thing?  I have just been settling into 2009 and now you want me to embrace this final month of the first quarter of 2010?

There is still snow in patches on the ground in New York.  The sun wrestles with the clouds.  I am still in my heavy coat though I may not need it so much.

Seems most folk are ready for Spring - the lamb part. I am (not so) secretly pressing the gods for more snow! More lion!!  I love this flaky, white pure goodness that blankets all the errors and messes.  I want MORE!  What is the rush for Spring when we can have more time frolicking in a winter wonderland?   Why the rush people?

New York is so beautiful in winter.  Its trees and monuments and windowsills lend so well to snow.  I know they lend well to tulips and general flowering as well, but just not yet.

No matter, weather is another thing I apparently do not control so I will try to enjoy whatever it offers.

Crap Snow Weather

Me. I love snow.  I cannot get enough of it, but when it is wet and kind of like rain that masquerades as snow and you are walking all over the Village trying to get prices on business cards so you can make some money and not go broke and you get the thighs of your jeans wet and your gloves are hard to get on and off and the business cards are way more than you thought and you wonder why you are not married with children and living in Tuscon and then you think, "I could be married with children and living in Tuscon" and you all of a sudden are so happy to be in New York in the snow that is really rain with little white jackets and you want to just embrace each one but you know they will die from your warmth so you don't and you get a pastry instead and know that it will disappear from your body once you go to the gym tonight after you have done all this stuff you plan to do and you run home and pet the dog and scream "I love you old Savings and Loan!!!"

Snow - West Village