Snowvember

Well, not in Mondoville, but back in my old Kentucky home (that’s catchy — someone should write a song!), there’s at least 4 inches on the ground, and more is forecast. I told my students that if I were back there and still in high school, I’d have the day off.

Many of my fellow Mondovillians like to gloat at moments like these — perhaps not so much today, which is cool and rainy here, but usually. I am not among those folks. For one thing, we pay for such hubris in the summer, when the combined heat and humidity create a general ambience of “the inside of Tarzan’s loincloth.” But to tell you the truth, I miss what I think of as real winter, of the sorts I experienced in Kentucky and Indiana.

I don’t miss shoveling snow, particularly as I’m of an age and physical condition known as “just begging for an infarction.” Of course, given that I spent a little time yesterday dragging bales of dead leaves up to the street for disposal, it may be six of one and half a dozen of t’other. But I miss the look and sound of snow, and the muffled sound of the world after it falls, and I even miss bitter cold, which has always made me feel more alive, perhaps in a Jack London kind of way.

So, to my friends back in Kentucky, know that despite the hassles you’re dealing with today, I’m maybe a little bit jealous. And to my friends here in Mondoville, it’s nice to know the stores have plenty of bread, milk, and toilet paper.