Mourning Winter

Okay, it's officially spring and all the winter haters are really happy. These are the people who have been complaining since the last colored leaf was blown to the ground. They hate snow, cold, wind, gray skies, etc. Well, I love winter and I'm here to say that they're not looking on the bright side during those cold gray months, and I for one, am sorry to see them pass.

First, I love having most of the outdoors to myself. Like this beach shot I took last month, for example. I was completely alone on this beach. Totally alone, enjoying peace and serenity and the blissful sound of the lonely surf, all for me. When I return to this beach in the summer it will be crowded from one end to the other with people who wouldn't dare stand on it in February, and it will be hot, loaded with bugs and noisy. Oh. I'll still go, and I'll still have a great time, but having the beach totally to myself is pretty damn good, too.

Second, I love to walk the dog after dark and as the weeks go by the dark will be coming later and later, and then there's those bugs again. Like on the beach, during the winter months, I have the streets to myself but soon I'll hear the constant jingle of dog tags and see dark shadows moving about in the night and I'll have to share the streets for awhile, too.

I love a big snowstorm and when it's bitterly cold I love having an excuse to just hole up in my house with things like a good book and a supply of hot chocolate. I can go to bed early if I want without feeling like I'm in a nursing home, and for those of us who rise somewhat early to go to work, I prefer a little dark quiet over sun blazing into my house like dozens of police spotlights and the deafening cacophony of millions of birds.

Not to worry, I'll enjoy the colorful blooms of wildflowers along the roads, the mild spring breezes and seeing the trees all green and leafy again, and what the heck, fall is only about 6 months away!