Winter for the phoren living desis

okonomi · Post by **okonomi** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:53 am

In pre-R2I posts there will be the lament of the cold winters. In post-R2I posts there'd the longing for the pure, crisp cold winds of winter in the northeast. One way or another, winter has become part of the desi-in/and-america story. This week we changed the furnace filter, and put up the stretch film on the draftier windows. The central heating is already on. It is now 41ºF, tomorrow night's low will be 33ºF. Pretty soon, we will have snow in the neighborhood. We will be able to X-country ski in the park nearby. Autobody shops will make more money fixing fender-benders. Some of the small neighborhood slopes will have children sliding down in various plastic toboggans.... even the lid of a garbage can came in handy in the old days :)) There was a recent local TV advisory about safety in sliding down the hills: kids are asked to wear bicycle helmets when they go sliding in snow.

I like winters in my town. Best season in many respects. Much cleaner air; no dust, pollen. Nice to go out for walks. Even see deer more often than in warmer weather. They are out watching for us to bring them feed-grain.

The Farmer's Almanac gets "cute" about the weather, and calls the upcoming winter, "wet and wild", and says [QUOTE]For the winter of 2011–12, the Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting “clime and punishment,” a season of unusually cold and stormy weather. For some parts of the country, that means a frigid climate; while for others, it will mean lots of rain and snow.

Any ideas or plans for what you are going to do for this winter ?

ana · Post by **ana** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:02 am

Thank God I am not there to experience winter this time :-) I like the hot and humid climate I live in. Pools and playground are everyday game :-)

GutsyGibbon · Post by **GutsyGibbon** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:49 am

okonomi;417757Any ideas or plans for what you are going to do for this winter ?

No snow for peeps in Southern Calif. 365 days of mororcycle-able roads. The new year resolution for 2011 was to learn sking, hopefully we can get out a couple times to the mountains. But, this old dog is having a hard time learning new tricks.

LotsOfRokda · Post by **LotsOfRokda** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 6:03 pm

sit indoors and wonder what we are doing here. However positive I try to be , this is one thing I cant and will never get used to, even after 10+ years.

okonomi · Post by **okonomi** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:33 pm

LotsOfRokda;417804sit indoors and wonder what we are doing here. However positive I try to be , this is one thing I cant and will never get used to, even after 10+ years.

Yes; hibernation, if possible, can be the thing to do. But, if you have to stir yourself up everyday, could you get inspired to put out some bleak writings for the forum ? Very useful to prod people to R2I.
[QUOTE]"Thy breath be rude," William Shakespeare famously told winter in As You Like It, invoking a common complaint about the season: winter is cold, windy, bleak, awful. Five centuries later, poets have much the same complaints. As Amy Gerstler wryly concluded in "A Severe Lack of Holiday Spirit," winter is a humorless season that can drive one to drinking:source
And then, we have more holidays in winter. Shopping, partying and singing songs of the season. Even desis have their song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owK5tHjL0aE

M V · Post by **M V** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:35 pm

The weather is summery still, calendar and neighbors' Halloween decorated houses say it is fall, and time to go jostle other parents in Party City for the costume, and here thread solicits winter plans. : )

No winter snow here either. Trying to make travel plans for the many holidays, including his and her solo trips to desh. Younger one wants to be at home on Christmas eve/ morning so as to not miss Santa, though the myth has been already busted. Some trips to snowy places, and some to Southern. and norther Calif, no air travel if I can help it.

Might also get a head start on the resolutions list. :)

KirKS · Post by **KirKS** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:48 pm

okonomi;417757 I like winters in my town. Best season in many respects. Much cleaner air; no dust, pollen. Nice to go out for walks. Even see deer more often than in warmer weather. They are out watching for us to bring them feed-grain.

Lovely post okonomi.

This is my 3rd winter starting without any trace of snow. Of course I am talking of 12.97°N/77.57°E, the lovely 72'F year round average temperature, low humidity and medium precipitation heaven on the earth.

But I still miss my winters of NJ/NY area.

Miss the football season. This is the 3rd season now without a single game being watched on TV. Damn.. I used to watch 35-50 games a year on TV, plus a few in the chilly Giants stadium booing those freezer small town teams.

Miss the jogs/runs watching my own breath. Particularly heavenly 2 days after snow when you can run. Much more wonderful when the afternoon sun just peeped in to bring out that precious little drop of sweat in chilly conditions.

Miss the fall season. Miss the drives to New Hampshire, Vermont, MA, CT and upstate NY. Miss the strolls in the parks, trekking the trails... No fall for most part here in concrete jungle, unless we try hard in western ghats.

Miss the tennis. Yes, we used to even physically clean up snow on public tennis courts in February, when windchill is 20'F, and play for 2 hours on Saturday afternoons. Haven't played tennis at all after R2I :(

Miss the bike rides through those new trails every other weekend. 4 layer of cloths, with layer by layer coming off after a few minutes of biking..

Miss playing in snow.

Miss skiing. Miss those mad adventure challenges with friends where we went to small jumps and eventually black diamond downhill at 50-60 mph speed. That rush of adrenaline, those not-so-painful falls, the tears in eye when skiing night time.

Miss the ice skating. So much fun watching wife fall on the ice and asking her to get up by herself and then getting blasted at home for being 'insensitive' :)

Miss those long walks through swamps or ice covered parks. Still recall a scene when an animal was freshly killed by a predator and ran out of the park like there is no tomorrow after seeing blood.

Miss the snow covered skyscrapers of New York.

Miss those amazing holiday season songs on 106.7 FM in New York. 'Feliz Navidad.. Feliz Navidad'... I get so emotional listening to the wonderful Thanksgiving through New Year song marathons bringing the best out of me.

So much more..

Of course, don't miss the horrible heaters 24*7, shoveling snow, fender benders, train disruptions due to frozen tracks, walking in extreme cold through NY city with nose/ear almost getting numb, skids/falls et all.

But the miss parts are lot longer for me than the not-miss part. Maybe, I was born to enjoy winters far more than warmer weathers... one drive through a literal snow-desert west of Lake Placid in upstate NY for an entire day, is something I never forget.

Let it snow.. let it snow.. let it snow :s38:

M V · Post by **M V** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:53 pm

Lovely post KirKS. :)

boca · Post by **boca** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:10 pm

We got hit by a cold front! Overnight, the night time temps dropped to low 60s from the mid-70s. Can you please raise your curtains up north and stop the wind from blowing south? Thanks. :)

LotsOfRokda · Post by **LotsOfRokda** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:06 pm

Kirks,
great post..my other half is already complaining about this even before R2i..everytime the game is on, I hear a wistful- I am going to miss this..
On a different topic, I havent read anything from you on namma metro- would like to hear when someone rides it.