Snow. Last week we had a bit of snow. Probably 8-10". I sent pictures to my Georgia friends. I also included a couple of videos of Jack and I out playing in the Honda side-by-side in the snow. My Georgia friends were not too impressed. Most are relocated Yankees who are happy to no longer be dealing with such harsh winters. One of them sent beautiful pictures of the Atlantic Ocean and sunshine off the Georgia coast.
They are happy. They don't understand how we can be happy with our winters and the cold and snow. But, most of our happy comes from being close in miles to our families. Only a few live outside the boundaries of Illinois. That sweet granddaughter of ours lives in Missouri, but still only a couple of hours away. I say "only" but wish that was closer. The 2 people she lives with are a major part of our happy, too.
I love the deep definitions of the seasons that we have in the Midwest. Living in Georgia with a busy and fast growing little boy was fine. There were more months in the year when he could play outside comfortably. And yet, I remember all the fun we had in the few significant snowfalls that we experienced while there.
But here in Illinois, as my friend Marie calls it, "that God forsaken frozen tundra", we have winter. I tend to enjoy the cold winter that encourages us to appreciate the hot summer. Then, those hot summers that make us wish for the colder temps. And in between.... ah, it's the in between that I like the most. I love the freshness of the Springtime and the cool crispness of the Fall. What I enjoy the most is that the Spring and Fall are so well defined here. If you look up all the qualities and definitions of Spring and Fall, you will see what we get to experience, and experience it for a couple of months or more each season. In Georgia, summer just sort of grew into Fall and Fall seemed to just get stuck. Then, winter. Winter seemed to be only a word on the calendar. The temps rarely got into single digits. So it didn't always feel like winter to this Illinois girl. Springtime went from 20° to 100° overnight. Oh, it does that here sometimes, too. And sometimes goes in the other direction overnight in the Fall. But usually in the Midwest it's a gradual change that allows Spring to pop slowly and linger and Fall to slide ever so gracefully into a deeper chill. We usually get several weeks of both a textbook Spring and a textbook Fall
Having said all the above, I will tell you as I have told many people - I was colder in Georgia during the winter than I am here. There's one reason for that. The dampness down there will chill you right through your bones. I mean CHILL. Brrr... just thinking about it now makes me shiver. They have their dampness in the air in the winter. In the Midwest, we have it in the summer. But, by then we call it humidity. Argh! The HUMIDITY. I've known several people who have experienced a St. Louis summer for the first time and complained that it was sooooo hot. They had "no idea". Yes, we don't tell too many people about it, because they don't believe us until they experience it for themselves. I was colder in Georgia in the winter than I am here and hotter here in the summer than I was there.
As for winter here with our snowfall last week - we couldn't go anywhere for a couple of days. But, that was okay. The weatherman told us it was coming so we had plenty of food and supplies. We only lost power for a couple of hours one morning, but with the fire going, we were warm. Much longer than those couple of hours, we would have cranked up the generator and shut down all but the refrigerators. Not a problem, really. And with our road crews, we knew they'd be working hard to clear the roads and get us all moving again.
Even without a snowfall like this, those of us who grew up here understand the peace of hibernation of the winter. Supper a bit earlier, jammies on by 7:00 p.m. or sooner. No one comes knocking on the door. Privacy. Warmth with a blanket and/or a warm fire going. The glow of that fire with the glow of the TV. And during the day, there is nothing more peaceful than watching a soft, gentle snowfall. Take my blood pressure then... if it would even register.
Our videos:
https://youtu.be/Xo5UGbh4gGQ
High snow drifts and one lane in this one.
https://youtu.be/7K2SZxnd00Q