Winter Solstice

Winter has struck southern NH somewhat suddenly, it seems to me. In reality, we usually have snow by now, so I wonder why it seems early. Upon reflection, I would have to say that it's not that it's sudden, but that it has been so vicious so early in the season.

A week ago yesterday, I awoke to what appeared to be a war zone in my backyard, where my magnificent willow tree had been decimated by the now famous ice storm. Large branches and small littered the entire back yard. Additional branches were hanging from the willow, waiting to drop on the unsuspecting. My power, along with that of about 400,000 others had been knocked out as well. I was among the lucky few whose power returned quickly, due in part, I suspect to my proximity to the University of NH, where 7500 students were in unheated, dark dorms.

Yesterday, our first snowstorm added insult to injury for those who were still without power and for those who were working so hard to restore it. We had about a foot of snow - a bit unusual for this part of the state. Most of our snow turns to rain or freezing rain, so it was kind of a nice change to be greeted by light powder this morning. On the other hand, shoveling, even light powder, isn't a whole lot of fun, and I wouldn't mind if this were our first and last storm for the winter. Mother Nature has other ideas, and we are slated for the next storm tomorrow and overnight into Monday. This one is carrying a lot more moisture, and is predicted to end as sleet and freezing rain.

As I got up this morning, I contemplated the fact that we are at the solstice, when we will have the least amount of daylight of all the days of the year. That is a heartening thought, because the days will grow longer now, and soon it will be spring. At least that was my thinking this morning. As the day wore on, and snow kept falling and lightly swirling in the air, covering everything that I had already shoveled (twice), I thought that the solstice has a lot in common with the 45th parallel (see a previous entry) in that supposedly I was half way between the equator and the North Pole but it sure felt a lot more like I was way closer to the North Pole......in this case, the reality is that the solstice is just the beginning of winter, deep winter, and though it is true that the days will be getting longer by almost miniscule amounts, we are a long, long, long way from spring.

Sigh!