The first snow of the season fell just in time for Thanksgiving this year. Holland, Michigan, as you can see in the picture below, got about 10 inches, while Grand Rapids seemed to get a little less.
For those of you living in Florida or California, please don’t envy us here. You may miss the snow and the “traditional” winter holidays with snow and sleds and hot cocoa, but what this snow really means here is the beginning of five dreary, monochromatic months. It also meant having to wait an extra hour in the freezing cold waiting for my bus to arrive after work on Wednesday. Not fun.
Karl, I heard on the radio that Grand Rapids got 9-1/2″, so you’re right on target.
For those living in Florida or California, now comes five months of beautiful weather (mostly), which is the flip side of (for Florida) heat and humidity and hurricanes in the summer months, when West Michigan has gorgeous weather. In Florida, summer is the price you pay for winter, while in Michigan the price for summer is paid during winter. We Michiganders and semi-Michiganders should remind ourselves that the incredible beauty portrayed by your lovely picture also represents a respite from the “dreary, monochromatic” winter months. These wonderful scenes do occur from time to time during the winter, and are soon followed by the new life of spring (crocus, daffodils, forsythia, etc., etc.).
Your wait for the bus on Wednesday somehow reminds me of my grade school days in Chicago, when I had to walk two miles to and from school every day in all kinds of weather. By the way, the route was uphill – both ways!
Thanks for the comment, and for looking for the silver lining. When I’m feeling more optimistic, I agree with you, except maybe the part about the new life of spring soon following.
The description of your walk to and from school is fascinating. My father, who grew up in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, had an almost identical experience! :)
Ya but Karl you forgot he had no shoes on when he walked to school in the snow. While you can’t wait for spring, I can’t wait till it snows in this area.
i realize that you don’t need envy (okay, maybe you do) but it’s december 7 and it’s 60 degrees in pittsburgh. at night. we are begging for snow!
and just to jump onto the “life isn’t so bad, karl” band wagon, my high point, competitively speaking, in chicago was waiting for the bus one winter in a snowstorm. and after several progressively slower blinks, my eyelids froze shut. i caught a cab. cheers, diane