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Let it snow

"Winter Weather Advisory".
"Winter Storm Warning".


It's winter. It's Michigan. Snow is going to fly. Wind is going to blow. Temps are going to dive.

Yet, the weather-forecasters want to keep us hyper-vigilant to the fact that the snow is flying, the wind is blowing and the temps are diving. 

We along the shores of the Great Lakes are especially aware of winter's weather, "lake effect snow" just means winter weather on steroids. We have the Ziggy cloud (for those of you unfamiliar with this reference, the cartoon character Ziggy was often depicted with him being followed by a dark cloud - I tried a Google search but came up empty, so my explanation I hope draws picture enough!) from December to March. My mom will sometimes call from sunny Phoenix referring to the cloud over Saugatuck. One winter we had 20 snow days in a row following Christmas break (that might be a slight exaggeration, but it felt like 20!).

It's winter. It's Michigan. Snow is going to fly. Wind is going to blow. Temps are going to dive.

Driving is challenging. I think some of the best drivers in the world are from Michigan because we have learned to drive on icy roads, or through white-outs, or along snow-covered or drifted-over roads. We could be cruising along at posted speeds and suddenly encounter any or all of the above and immediately a switch is turned and we are in survival mode slowing our speed (not slamming on the brakes), possibly turning on our emergency flashers (so others behind us can see us better) and checking the lanes. Admittedly, I'd rather not have or have to use this skill set, but it's in my tool box!

And it's only 88 days until spring! And the happiest people in the world are Michiganders of the first sunny days of spring - once the temp rises above 50 we take off our snow pants and put on shorts!




Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

When an ass is so much more

  Body image. Body positivity.  Or about coming to an appreciation for a previously much maligned back end.  In junior high (that's middle school for all of you non boomers), I was given the nickname "big butt Bowen". It was a nickname that stung because I did indeed have a large ass. I tried to mask it, a difficult endeavor since the current fashion (and remember this is junior high when fitting in was paramount) was wearing hip hugger jeans with midriff tops and my disguise of choice were peasant blouses or dresses. That style choice earned an additional nickname, Mama Cass. For those of you that don't know who Mama Cass was, she was part of the Mamas and Papas and known for her beautiful voice but also for her large body.  All about Mama Cass I was cruelly nicknamed at a time when nicknames can really mess with a girl's psyche. And I spent a lifetime as that girl with the messed up psyche. I'm sure there are more than one of you out there that can relate. B

Peter Pan no more

                          It's time. Peter Pan had to grow up.  For nearly 18 months of his life, Matthew dressed in this costume. In this picture it's new, just out of the box. He picked the costume out of a catalog and when it arrived, two weeks prior to Halloween, he asked daily if today was the day he could finally wear his Peter Pan costume. He didn't like the hat and only wore it on Halloween, but the rest of the costume he wore daily! You read that correctly - DAILY. He wore it to Meijer (for those of you unfamiliar with Meijer, it's a cleaner, friendlier, more 'upscale' version of WalMart), to church, to play dates and preschool ... Heck, he was three and adorable and it worked for him!  (Yes you read that correctly, he even wore it to church on one or two occasions when it seemed arguing with a three year old about not wearing a costume to church was not a battle worth waging. He once mentioned the priests wore dresses . . . I don't think Joh

Cabin fever made me do it!

Like nearly ever person in West Michigan, I have a serious case of cabin fever.  I won't waste your time however, complaining about the two-hundred feet of snow that's fallen in the last two hours. I won't share about the twenty or thirty times I've had to shovel my walk today as gusts blew it right back in my face. And I certainly will not lament about the temperatures that hover around negative double digits making your nostrils freeze together within moments of stepping outside. To bore you with tales of how we have to shovel areas in our yard so that our large dog and can do his 'duty' because the snow is deeper than he is tall and dogs for whatever reason cannot poop in the same place twice, is not what I will share. You will not hear about how when I open the slider to let aforementioned dog outside, gusts of wind blow drifts of snow inside and require a shovel to once again close the door.  Nor will I share how some roads around here are drifted shut be