AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 12
Monday, November 12, 2007
There’s not much to cheer in this winter wonderland
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the recent time change and drop in the temperatures I’m having to concede early that winter has arrived - not my favorite time of year to be in the south. Usually I can fudge it way into November, but this year I can’t hide in denial.
It’s dark and cold when I get up. It gets dark and cold when I get home in the afternoon. Too much dark and cold. Small wonder animals burrow in and hibernate - what else is there this time of year?
My wife’s gardens - whatever survived this summer’s lack of rain - are done for the year. Nothing’s blooming and nothing’s going to bloom again for months.
And the tomato plants have been pulled from the ground leaving large bare patches. No more fresh vegetables just steps from the back door.
Out front, no matter how many times I get the blower and clean off the driveway, every night another couple of tons of leaves drop to the ground. And there’s nothing scenic about trees that have lost their leaves.
The only good that comes of all this is I no longer have to cut the grass.
Living in Sandy Springs in the winter means we pretty much get all the worst of winter and none of the good. Geographically, we live in a place where it’s going to get cold, but that’s about it.
If Currier and Ives had lived in Sandy Springs, they never would have had their magnificent careers capturing pastoral scenes of winter. Soft blankets of snow, turning the world into a winter wonderland.
If we do get snow it’s usually no good for building a snowman or sledding. Most of the time all winter precipitation does here is ice over the streets and yank power lines.
The only good that comes this season is that one of my favorite days of the year comes in the winter. No - not Thanksgiving, Christmas of New Years. The day I think I’m most happy in the winter is December 22. That’s the shortest day of the year, which means every day thereafter starts getting longer.
Maybe I could learn to hibernate.
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