Accepting the Weather

I spent my first 30 years in Colorado being disappointed in the winters on the plains: the lack of snow and the brown monochromatic landscape. February has always been my least favorite month, because, even though it’s the shortest, it seems to go on forever in its monotonous palette of every shade of brown, with no interruption of a good snowstorm.

I grew up in the Midwest where, through the hazy recollection of memory, my childhood winters were full of snow that lasted from November through March.  We spent winters ice skating, tobogganing and sledding, and built igloos and snowmen in the back yard. I fondly remember the big snowstorms that closed school for several days, especially one that almost left me stranded at the Marshall Field’s department store, where I worked in high school.  I was saved by my father, who drove us home in what took more than 2 hours for a drive that usually took a half hour.

Living in Colorado, I’ve had to suffer through many mild winters like this one, where there’s little snow and the days are mild and full of sunshine, where you can sit at an outside café in December, hike in a light jacket, or play golf. Even at the cabin, there's only a few inches of snow on the ground and lots of bare places where the wind has blown it away. Where’s that big storm that dumps 2 feet on us, shuts the airport and most city streets, lets me walk out my back gate and ski in the fields behind my house?

But this winter, I decided to accept the weather, to greet each day with no expectations; let it surprise me: in mid December, rain at the cabin so the snow was slush when I went for a walk, a sunrise that filled the whole sky and painted everything at the cabin pink (above), winds strong enough to open the back gate and pull the clouds into long streamers,  still open ponds where I can find green-winged teals and red-tailed ducks, fields of tall grasses that haven’t yet been pushed down by the snow (left).

And just when I was starting to enjoy the warm days, what blows in from the north but a blizzard. I love it.

 

Comments

[Brandon]

I endorse your decision to accept the weather conditions as they are.
Acceptance is the key to peace of mind.

[Bettianne Shoney Sien]

Wonderful! Love the photos!

[sally]

I agree with Brandon, acceptance is something we'd all be better to practice!!

[Julene]

Yes to all this. I've been trying to accept and enjoy a snowless winter. The grasses have been so beautiful. But now that we have winter, that stunning mountain bluebird in your last post is stirring me to dream of spring.