The Post-Journal
Experiencing The Joys Of Winter
DEC 23, 2023
ROLLAND KIDDER
The other day I peeked out the window and saw our grandson
playing with the dogs in the snow. It was fun to watch!
He would throw the snow up in the air, they would chase
it and their noses and faces were covered. It was an early snow and quite wet,
so the snow stuck to the dogs like fleas. He didn’t know I was watching, which
made the whole experience even better.
There is a lot about winter, at my age, that you don’t
like. Go slower, put more salt down, buy some extra windshield fluid because
you know that you are going to run out.
But, we can’t overlook the other side. It brings out a
good side in people. The other day, on the way to buy the newspaper in the
early morning, I saw that a car had slid off the road. The Sheriff’s Deputy was
there with her caution lights blazing so that everyone was aware of the
problem.
The person in the car was okay, she was standing at the
edge of the road. Another car, a local woman going to work, stopped to help and
got the stranded motorist home. No one hurt (except maybe the car in the
ditch,) and a public safety official was fully involved–really a beautiful
scene. An early winter scene in Chautauqua County.
Winter, of course, is a mixed bag. The woodlands and
trees are incredible when clothed in snow. Yet, when on the way to Warren, Pa.
for a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the same snow storm, I ruminated:
“Why am I doing this?”
Yet, it is all a part of living here in the winter. The
bad comes with the good.
Up here on the lake, we tend to measure time not as
much by the clock, but by the wildlife on the water. The coots were coming by
in droves recently and the ducks with them. The seagulls still left here have
been swarming on the lake like bees around a hive. The tundra swans will be
coming soon…just before the lake freezes over. Winter is not such a bad thing.
Age brings perspective, but that doesn’t mean that it
brings more resilience. When you are my age, you need to be ready when the snow
flies and prepare yourself for walking through the slush and snow. Where is the
solid ground?
My kids tell me that most of what I write in these
articles is read by old people like me. Be that as it may, even old people can
appreciate winter. They just have to be more ready for it and plan ahead.
I remember, as a kid, when people put chains on their
tires in order to drive in the winter. Thankfully, we don’t have to do that
anymore. Yet, we have learned from those “old days,” and I am always sure that
our four-wheel-drive family has good tread on their tires before the snow
starts to fall.
There really isn’t much of a “tale” in this story
except to return again to the change of seasons and the coming on of winter. It
can be a beautiful thing or an awful thing…depending on how you look at it.
The good news is that if you are prepared and expecting
it, it can be one of the favorite times of the year to live around here.
