winter is coming

The last few weeks have been downright nasty when it comes to the cold. We've had snow in the hills and sleet downtown, and by the time I walk four blocks each morning to work my fingers feel like icicles and my breath's sticking to my chin. I'm trying not to complain, really; and I'm trying to savor the fifty-degree weather we've had for the last few days, probably the last of its kind before the winter onslaught truly begins. November through mid-January is always up in the air when it comes to how "wintry" things will be, but February's the worst, and March has (at least historically speaking) been just as awful. Already I'm looking forward to spring, begging it to come to our doorstep. 

My life becomes very simple when winter comes around (as if it's not simple any other time of the year). My days are generally spent (post-work, of course) crowded inside where it's warm, dressed in my pajamas and reading books and drinking wine and going to bed early. Really, I don't mind it too much, but after a while it does get old. I'm already starting to long for the days when I could run errands without being in biting pain; I'm missing those summer days when we'd crowd the front porch, when people would be over all the time, when we'd have impromptu parties and share so much laughter we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Those days are, for the moment, gone, and people are cloistering themselves in their homes. Even the streets of Price Hill are quiet (except State Avenue; that place is always hopping, and not in the way you want). No one wants to be outdoors; everyone's bundling up inside; we're all just waiting for it to end. Basically, the gist of this post: winter sucks. The End.