No, really, I do. I feel it coming on in my bones every year just after Halloween. For some reason, Halloween is the cut-off each year - the official end of being all things outdoors. Even when I was little, things changed starting the first of November. My grandparents left for Florida every November 1, and from then on, things were...just different. We'd cram in 'just one last visit' several times, playing as much and as hard together as we could to help us over the long winter without them.
I hate winter.
It causes me to melt into unexplicable pools of weepiness at the drop of a hat. It makes my bones cold and the tip of my nose red and my fingers type slowly. It causes me to be drawn to the dark basement and the warmth of Jonah's electric blanket. It is a cruel trick of the logistics of our house that I must pass through this warm, dark bedroom everytime I go to the laundry room. Every time I pass the bed and refuse to curl up into my fetal position, I feel that I should hear thunderous applause.
This is the first winter in four years that we have had heat for the entire winter. I should be hysterically thankful for that. Those were cold mornings...Jon would get up and turn on the kerosene heater. He said that walking on the kitchen floor (which is over the garage) was actually painful before the heater started warming up the house. Thank God for a working furnace this year.
This stinking winter causes me to drop more four-letter words than fireworks on the fourth of July. Normally, unless I am in hard labor, I don't go farther than the occasional 'snap' or 'crap'. Not in winter. My adjectives of choice are narrowed down considerably.
I hate winter. With a passion. Don't lecture me that all seasons are beautiful and that I have so much to be thankful for. I know all of that. That is what keeps me afloat. So, today I looked back through my pictures and decid
ed to take myself to a happy place...
Hidden Valley Beach and pool.
Now I don't know if you know this, but we live in what was recently declared on a nationwide scale to be 'the best kept secret of the midwest'. We live half a mile from a mile-long lake, complete with kayaks, speedboats, pontoons, fishing, swimming, and everything else you could possibly want out of a lake. It also has a sand beach. How amazing is that? The beach is one of our two main hangouts in the warm months, from about May - October. It has a playground and swings, picnic tables and a porch swing. People see it and are amazed. Everyone says the same thing along the lines of, "I can't believe how amazing this place is. I never knew..." You should see the sun go down behind the lake. My favorite is when it is swirls of purple and pink. I call it the cotton-candy sunset. I also love when it is brilliant, fiery orange. Breathtaking. We used to meet for small group at the beach every week. We'd all bring some small assortment of food and we would end up with the most amazing spread. Wine and cheese and Italian food and healthy food and Oreos. And then, to play in the water, to watch the kids who never tire of the water. ahhhh, good times.
Our other favorite hangout is the pool here. Again, it's about half a mile from our house in the other direction. Swim lessons, swim team, pool parties, basketball, tennis...so much to do at the pool. And it doesn't matter what kind of food I pack or how elaborate of a lunch we just had, snack bar food is better. By the end of last summer, I was taking our popcorn up to the pool and asking them to pop it in their microwave. The kids thought I bought it there and were much more excited about it than normal....I mean, this is the kind of pool where everyone is familiar. When Jackie was little, he couldn't see into the snack bar. The workers would just pick him up and take him in to let him pick something out. And the pool....I love the pool. Sometimes during the course of a day we end up at the pool three different times. We're off school and have no schedule, no plan for the day except to swim and stay cool. Well, once a week we have to cut our grass, but other than that, we're at the beach or the pool.
My boys have gotten to be quite the divers too. They can do the most amazing assortment of flips and twists. By the end of the summer, I had to stop watching - it just made me too nervous. Even one of the lifeguards hated to watch, but was forced to because of her job. She'd give me the play-by-play, "He bounced once, twice, he's in the air, he's flipping one and a half, twisting around, ending with a dive...and...he's clear." Breathe.
Oh, just thinking about the pool and beach makes me feel a bit better. I can almost feel the sand between my toes and smell the sunscreen. I can't wait to load up the car with buckets and flippers and towels and sandals.
Wish it was tomorrow...
I hate winter.
It causes me to melt into unexplicable pools of weepiness at the drop of a hat. It makes my bones cold and the tip of my nose red and my fingers type slowly. It causes me to be drawn to the dark basement and the warmth of Jonah's electric blanket. It is a cruel trick of the logistics of our house that I must pass through this warm, dark bedroom everytime I go to the laundry room. Every time I pass the bed and refuse to curl up into my fetal position, I feel that I should hear thunderous applause.
This is the first winter in four years that we have had heat for the entire winter. I should be hysterically thankful for that. Those were cold mornings...Jon would get up and turn on the kerosene heater. He said that walking on the kitchen floor (which is over the garage) was actually painful before the heater started warming up the house. Thank God for a working furnace this year.
This stinking winter causes me to drop more four-letter words than fireworks on the fourth of July. Normally, unless I am in hard labor, I don't go farther than the occasional 'snap' or 'crap'. Not in winter. My adjectives of choice are narrowed down considerably.
I hate winter. With a passion. Don't lecture me that all seasons are beautiful and that I have so much to be thankful for. I know all of that. That is what keeps me afloat. So, today I looked back through my pictures and decid
ed to take myself to a happy place...Hidden Valley Beach and pool.
Now I don't know if you know this, but we live in what was recently declared on a nationwide scale to be 'the best kept secret of the midwest'. We live half a mile from a mile-long lake, complete with kayaks, speedboats, pontoons, fishing, swimming, and everything else you could possibly want out of a lake. It also has a sand beach. How amazing is that? The beach is one of our two main hangouts in the warm months, from about May - October. It has a playground and swings, picnic tables and a porch swing. People see it and are amazed. Everyone says the same thing along the lines of, "I can't believe how amazing this place is. I never knew..." You should see the sun go down behind the lake. My favorite is when it is swirls of purple and pink. I call it the cotton-candy sunset. I also love when it is brilliant, fiery orange. Breathtaking. We used to meet for small group at the beach every week. We'd all bring some small assortment of food and we would end up with the most amazing spread. Wine and cheese and Italian food and healthy food and Oreos. And then, to play in the water, to watch the kids who never tire of the water. ahhhh, good times.
Our other favorite hangout is the pool here. Again, it's about half a mile from our house in the other direction. Swim lessons, swim team, pool parties, basketball, tennis...so much to do at the pool. And it doesn't matter what kind of food I pack or how elaborate of a lunch we just had, snack bar food is better. By the end of last summer, I was taking our popcorn up to the pool and asking them to pop it in their microwave. The kids thought I bought it there and were much more excited about it than normal....I mean, this is the kind of pool where everyone is familiar. When Jackie was little, he couldn't see into the snack bar. The workers would just pick him up and take him in to let him pick something out. And the pool....I love the pool. Sometimes during the course of a day we end up at the pool three different times. We're off school and have no schedule, no plan for the day except to swim and stay cool. Well, once a week we have to cut our grass, but other than that, we're at the beach or the pool.
My boys have gotten to be quite the divers too. They can do the most amazing assortment of flips and twists. By the end of the summer, I had to stop watching - it just made me too nervous. Even one of the lifeguards hated to watch, but was forced to because of her job. She'd give me the play-by-play, "He bounced once, twice, he's in the air, he's flipping one and a half, twisting around, ending with a dive...and...he's clear." Breathe.
Oh, just thinking about the pool and beach makes me feel a bit better. I can almost feel the sand between my toes and smell the sunscreen. I can't wait to load up the car with buckets and flippers and towels and sandals.
Wish it was tomorrow...
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