Winter's Closing In
December 31, 2005
I consider myself a native New Englander, even though I was born outside Philadelphia. But I only lived there for 6 months, and, since then, Massachusetts has been my home. When I was a kid, I liked winter. I skated, played hockey, sledded, had snowball fights. It probably isn’t true, but it seems like I was outdoors in winter as much as I was any other season. Some of my most memorable hockey games were on outside rinks—you don’t see them much any more—but we would play a few each year outdoors. On the coldest days, the ice was hardest, and the tradeoff always seemed worth it.
Now I am not terribly active in the winter. I stay indoors, even to exercise. Each year it seems I tolerate winter a little less, and look forward to Spring even a little more.
Having said that, I still enjoy one thing about winter, and that is my small rituals of getting the house ready for winter. Putting down the storm windows. Dismantling and taking in the hammock. Putting away the hoses and the rakes and the lawn mower. My older son helped me today. We did some final raking, collected the soccer balls and basktballs from around the yard, and bagged up the leaves. I took out the snow blower, gassed it up, and drove to the gas station to fill the 3-gallon gas tank. It probably won’t be enough gas for all the snow, but it makes me feel prepared. Before we went in, I took a few pictures. This one is a stand of elms directly behind the house. They are my shade in the summer.
The title of this entry, by the way, refers to an old Joni Mitchell song, though I’ve always liked Tom Rush’s version. You can hear a brief clip here, and find the complete lyrics here.
Posted by Bill Trippe at December 31, 2005 4:48 PM
