Mother Nature's games

It's Wednesday now and feeling a bit ho-hum. I really should be doing some homework as I have a test next week but just don't feel like it, it's been a busy week and I just want to do something that I want to do. Put up a post about something.

Remember back when my nephew and his fiance moved down to Florida a couple years ago? How horrible that move hit us? Well, as I write this, they are in the process of planning for their return. We've known this for quite a few weeks actually but hate to talk about things until we know for sure it will be a reality.

So, it's a reality, it's just a matter of waiting...Go figure, they miss the weather! Snow! Cold! Oh, and Minnesota Hockey....I think about us moving to a warmer climate and basking in the warmth of the sun and a sandy beach and just about cry because I look out our window and there certainly ain't no ocean there but a white ground with cold temperatures.

I imagine though that come Christmas time, it has to be very difficult not to have a white ground. The thought of a warm Christmas just doesn't sound all that appealing. I find it funny how us Minnesotans bitch and moan about winter. How cold it is, how we want spring to come, how we can't wait to have our gardens and to go fishing. Winter sucks...it's just that simple.

Bundling up in layers of clothes, getting into a car that nearly cracks like a sheet of ice because it's colder then a deep freeze, the outside temp is so cold that your face gets numb in minutes. The crackling of the tires on the snow, the ability to see your breath, and mostly, the ability to drive in any condition that mother nature gives us on any given day. (although I hate winter driving) And if you have little kids...it's even worse having to bundle them up, buckle them into car seats...thank goodness our kids are older!

But really, winter is a beautiful season. One can always expect to see the tree branches sag from a wet snowfall. Pat always says on days such as that, things look like a black and white photo. White on all the trees, the pines with their branches covered...it's something to marvel in. I can't tell you how many pictures I have, probably of the same tree, of days such as that.

The glistening of the ground. It's like the ground is covered in diamonds on a sunny day. 30 degrees is beautiful, especially when the sun is shining. It's 'no-jacket' weather and what an experience it is to realize that if it were 30 degrees in the late spring or mid summer we would be wearing full body snowmobile suits because it's 'insanely cold' for that time of year. How on earth is thirty degrees beautiful???

Then, another down side is the teasing of mother nature; giving us 30-35 degree days only to follow up with -10 and a wind chill of -25. The extremes are what are probably the hardest and most depressing thing to deal with. Of course we just had a massive cold spell that seemed like we lived in the arctic just a week or so ago. Holy cow was it cold!!!!!! Our van wouldn't even warm up so when we went anywhere we froze! And I understand that this weekend we will have yet another. Today was gorgeous, sunny, warm (about 30 degrees maybe)...in two days it will be so cold that the steering wheel of my truck will give me frostbite.

Now, this started out being about my nephew and his family returning...part of me asks how they could come back to what is winter but deep down, the other part knows exactly why. You just cannot take the Minnesota out of a Minnesotan.