The Year with No Winter

Even as a kid I looked forward to the change of the seasons.  Each one offered a variety of activities, options, colors, smells, and even different toys.  With Christmas being over, Winter provided me with my friends and I taking our American Flyer sleds up the block to the Rabbi’s house because it had a raised driveway, and with a lookout posted at the bottom we could safely sled down and out into the street with out danger.  Our gloves were encrusted with pieces of frozen snow clinging to the knitted mittens we wore.  After a couple hours of sleigh riding my hands would be frozen and stinging as were my galloshed covered feet.  Time to go home, stomp the snow off our feet, clap the frozen nuggets off our gloves and head inside straight for the old wrought iron radiators most houses heated with.  I can still feel the sting on my fingers as they slowly began to warm up and the stinging sensation as your finger tips heated.  Tomorrow we would throw our ice  skates over our shoulders and head down to the kitty pool in the park on the next block for a day of skating around in a circle for a couple of hours and then returning home to face the same rituals as the day before.  Life was cold but fun!  Gradually as the earth warmed up and the sun got stronger we would put our sleds, galloshes and ice skates in storage and with the approach of Spring, a new set of paraphernalia was gathering by the door.  Out came our metal skates and skate keys, baseball gloves and bats, soon our bikes would be getting ready for long rides.  There were ab out 20 kids on our block so there was always somebody to play with.  Once again in our strapped on roller skates we would gather at the Rabbis house so we could glide down the driveway and into the street without worry.  Those days were pretty worry free.  The biggest decisions we had to make were skates, bikes or just street games.

The days were warming up and we were outside from the time we got home from school til the street lights came on.  The trees popped, flowers filled the air with the scent of lilacs, tulips and daffodils decorated the houses  and gradually the days warmed,  A new excitement was ahead as the last days of school before summer vacation were slowly being eaten away..  Summer brought on a whole new range of possibilities for us kids.  We could stay out later cause it stayed light longer,  Tag, freeze tag, Hide and Seek, I Declare War were games that most of the kids on the block could take part in.  And that was interrupted by families going away for a week or two.  Instead of coming in and huddling around the radiator we sat in front of the fan.  Drank ice cold lemonade to cool the body down.  During this time of year everything was green and a little sticky, and just as quickly as it came, it was ebbing and the days of freedom were coming to an end.
Subtle changes were starting to take place…. the grass wasn’t growing as quickly and had a little yellow tinge to it.  The nights were cooling down and it was getting dark earlier.  But it was exciting because the colors were changing.  The maples in my yard turned bright red making them look like the tree was on fire.
Up and down the block the various tress had turned yellow, orange and red,  there was a new fragrance in the air.  You could smell wood burning in people’s fireplaces.  It was an exciting time.  Spring and Summer always seemed peaceful and calm to  me but  Autumn and Winter were exciting. Halloween costumes pumpkins, hot chocolate were seen in most homes.  Sweaters, and light jackets at first were put on over our xhort sleeve shirts and soon to be replaced by heavier coats. Excitement was in the air.  Holidays and families and FOOD were the focus.  The first snow fall created a fairyland.  Catching snowflakes on our tongues and that first snowball fight and snowman were expected with great expectations.  The five and dimes were decorate for Christmas.  I was so excited because my brother and I would go to Woolworths to see what the new Lionel train equipment was to get ready for our Christmas layout on a platform that took up half of our living room floor. Everybody seemed in a good mood….Twas the season!

Of course as the years passed and we became teenagers, the equipment of the seasons changed.  We still went sleigh riding and ice skating but we picked up snow shovels to earn a little extra cash up and down the block shoveling for the seniors who lived there.  Ice scrapers for the windshields.  Time was picking up the pace and young adulthood was approaching fast.  But the Springs still smelled of lilacs and the deep green leaves of summer still presented themselves.  Instead of snow shovels now we had lawn mowers and rakes to earn some extra cash and to help the neighbors who couldn’t do it themselves. But there was always the anticipation that after Spring, Summer would arrive, followed by Autumn (which has always been my favorite season).  you could count on it! These things were expected, the normal evolution of the years.  It was comforting to know that one season followed the other and allowed me to grow up with a sense of order, safety and the normal revolving of the Earth.

So what happened?  This year Spring and Summer came and went.  The Autumn started just like all the others but this year it just kind of held on, and not the pretty part. The colors of early fall faded and as the leaves dropped off the trees.  The cold breezes began to blow and rain showers replaced early snowfalls. There was no pure white snow to decorate the land. Even a homemade crumb cake looks better with powdered sugar sprinkled on the top.  You know those tasty grayish brown crumbs are underneath the beautiful, powdered sugar!  But this year Mother Nature didn’t sprinkle her powdered sugar on the crumb cake we know as Earth.  The land, deserted by the beautiful colored leaves, looked gray and worn.  The temperatures dropped to uncomfortable, and we were pelted with one nasty rainy day after another all winter long.  It was like Fall refused to leave and Winter didn’t seem to care. The beautiful winter days of watching the snow fall and covering the earth and everything on it painted such a beautiful landscape, but not this year.  Now I am not sure if I can count on anything anymore.  Is Mother Nature angry at us??? Food for thought!

Redefining Winter

Despite not being a winter person, George laments the loss of crisp, white, snowy winters as we knew them.  I appreciate his joy and anticipation of the demarcation of the seasons and especially winter as it transforms the graying leafless vistas left at the end of fall to a sharp black and white wonderland of fresh, soft, snow covered landscapes.  He missed that this year and so did I.

Mine, I’m sorry to say, is even more certain than climate warming portents.  I moved some 200 miles south to where George’s description of this year’s winter in the Northeast is historically what winter is without a warming planet.  To make matters worse, I spent a chunk of my winter in Florida!  Yes, I miss winter for many of the reasons George so skillfully described but I also love winter.  I prefer to immerse myself in it, often and with a full heart.

My children and grandchildren know how much I like to play.  As a child, winter, provided many opportunities for me to engage in sledding, skating, and snowball throwing.  As an older “kid” (defined as from my teens through my seventies) I added, skiing, igloo building, snow hiking, and sitting around outdoor campfires.  For many years, I hosted “Winterfest” where friends, family, and colleagues were invited to come play in the snow for a day.  I hold those many wonderful memories close. My daughter called me this winter while I was in Florida to describe the substantial snowstorm they had received.  Knowing how much I was missing it, she remarked that if I continue my new trend of spending winters with Teresa in Florida, I will likely never see snow again.  Somehow, I had never taken the time to add that consequence to my newly written equation and it hit me hard.  Ugh!  Is this part of my life that brought me so much joy and energy and feeling of being a real kid again, over? Perhaps, but with every loss there is always something that moves in to fill the void.  I look forward to the new adventures that lie in wait for me next winter.

Go North!

I loved reading both George’s and Hen’s homage to wintertime! Geo’s descriptive reminders of childhood winter activities brough back a lot of memories. Although, truth be told, most of my cold weather sports were played indoors – snow and chill were simply background features. Oh, my goodness, ice-skating was the last thing I hankered to do – and I did not strap on skis until my wife challenged me to the slopes.

Now I’ve been to one of Hen’s Winterfests and he is clearly the Snow King! He reveled in the delight of towing kids up the hill to an excellent sledding point. Fire crackling in the outdoor firepit and friends enjoying each other’s company contributed to the celebration of the frozen season.

Now, as George pointed out, this winter barely visited us in the Hudson Valley. It was the warmest winter on record, according to the weather-prophets. Snow did not last – and neither did the sunshine. So, I have a cure: go North!

The Adirondacks also had an El Nino winter, but there was heavy snow on the occasions it came knocking. And the north country people know how to enjoy their cold weather! We have been to Saranac to visit the vast ice castle that is constructed each year. The ice is cut into locks from the frozen Lake Flower and built with care over a couple of weeks. A king and queen are coronated; Gary Trudeau of Doonesbury fame designs posters, and colored lights show off the ice – it is a pageant!

The Town of Inlet hosts the cardboard sled competition for kids. These are not just cardboard boxes – they are cleverly built tanks, race cars, school buses, and fire trucks roaring down the steep hill – there was even a ‘Batman Saves Inlet’ entry. Prizes are awarded for fastest, best crash, and most original sled. The creativity is worth the visit, as is the joy on the faces of both winners and losers. However, the most curious race is the annual outhouse race on Fourth Lake as part of the Frozen Fire and Lights Festival. Contestants build an outhouse on runners; one participant sits in the outhouse, while two teammates push the outdoor toilet across the ice to the finish line. This year the winner was ‘Holy Crap, Batman’, followed by the all-woman team of the ‘Flapper Crapper’.

My favorite, though, is the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Old Forge, NY. This community will seize any opportunity for a parade! The entire town comes out to cheer on the choreographed snowplow trucks; the shopping cart flotilla; the Irish Setter club (any dog with a green sweater), and numerous floats. Fun is in the air, whether the winter is fully or partially revealed.

Even if Mother Nature is playing coy, winter fun is in your attitude.

Winter Magic: Charles Messina (from poetrysoup.com)

An adrenalin rush, rocked my head 
When I saw a child- on her sled 
It made me think; should I go slide 
I'm eight-two...So, before I died 
Just one more time, before I'm dead 
Or before I'm ridden...in my bed 
What could happen, something tragic?
I'm eighty-two, can you call that tragic? 
So here I go, down the hill ....Wheeee!! 
Oh my God- ((Tragic)) ...."Peeee"