Winter and My Soul

(Image by rotenone. All rights reserved.) (Click pic for larger view.)

That title comes from an old Grand Funk song (when they were called Grand Funk Railroad). I could have just as aptly used "Winter Was Hard," one of Kronos's albums.

We're only now starting to recover from a nasty snow-and-ice storm that hit a few days ago. Folks around here are remarking it's the worst they've seen in quite some time. And I agree, in that it's not the volume of snow (several inches) but that most of what we got almost instantly froze harder than George W.'s head. The wind chill and plunging temperatures were brutal for a day or two, having fallen to a level we call "bitin' ass cold," leaving us with four inches of arctic permafrost you need to pickax through. Fortunately, we had a few sunny days with temperatures just above freezing in which to chip away, clear sidewalks, reestablish parking spaces, etc. It's nothing a glass or two of red wine can't fix, as long as is not's poured directly on the ice.

As a kid, I used to like winter, but now I could just as well do without it. Not that it's all bad. After all, the only things I mind are the cold, the icy winds, snow, ice, freezing rain, dead batteries, frozen pipes...Wait a minute - maybe it is all bad!

How fitting that Valentine's day is in February, since this month - in terms of weather - has been as fickle as love.

Ironically - or maybe fittingly - I'd been listening a lot to Yagya's "Snowflakes," but now it's time for something a bit harder (to counteract this hard season): Disc 1 of the Led Zeppelin box set. Just right for soothing my aching body and mind.