There’s snow. Beautiful snow. And then… there’s COLD.

Ouch! It’s really cold. Have you noticed???

And cold is not something I grew up with in Virginia. For me, cold was associated with New England. With skiing.

My mother grew up in New England and she loved to ski. At some point, she decided that we all (her 6 children) needed to fly to Boston and then drive to Vermont or NH, whizzing along the highway past ice-covered rocks to some huge high mountain, covered in snow. We were then given this impossible equipment to put on our feet. These were then attached to these slippery long skis. We were given poles to help stay upright (maybe?) and then told to “go have fun”. Of course, this meant ski lessons for a week which were another source of terror.

I was in my own lesson. I’d go up, up, up and up on this freezing cold lift, dropped at the top in a group of people I didn’t know. Then told by the instructor to do this or that.

Whew! That way to move – that was helpful: I went down a little. But look how much farther there is to go…

Aaaah, winter.

Years later when I was in my teens, I accompanied a friend skiing in Austria. There: to deal with the cold/ or the fear: have a shot of brandy at the top of the chairlift. Warmed you right up. Swish the ! Swish! Watch me glide effortlessly down this slope.

And then, once down and happy, lets go inside and think of all those alpine meadows in summer.

Have you EVER had the good fortune to see the alpine meadows in bloom?

Color!

Color that will come later in the year. Not in the stark white of winter. Not in these cold cold times.

Then again, maybe you’re someone that LOVES the cold? Maybe you’re not like me. Maybe you celebrate.

Like Peaches:

“Feels good to me!”