Shades of Winter on a cold Tuesday

It's raining outside, today. And it's cold. 38°F or about 3°C. Not very comfortable. We're all waiting for it to get below freezing, and actually start snowing.

Sounds weird to my Brit friends, I'm sure... But we Minnesotans don't really LIKE the rain at this time of year. Yeah, yeah, I know... By talking about single digit temperatures in C and rain, I'm just describing a typical winter day in Scotland. But... here... It gets much colder, and it snows. And you know what? We don't mind. There's something about a "dry" Minnesota cold day, when you step outside, perhaps just after a snow, and you breathe deeply of the air, tinged with warning bite that tells you that you're alive! It's a wonderful feeling. I think that Winter has always been one of my favourite seasons in Minnesota. (Judging from other conversations, at N8's blog, I'm alone in this.) But I really DO love the winter. I love the feel of deadly-cold air going in and out of my lungs, the bite of the wind on my exposed cheeks (as the scarf and hat cover most of the rest of my head) and the sound of the snow crunching under my feet. In Winter, in the Twin Cities, the snow shrouds the ground, covering a plethora of sins. There's a magic to the pristine white of our coldest season. There's also a "toughness" that we have in Minnesota. You speak to a New Yorker, or somebody from another big city, and they'll say, "I'm tough, I'm a New Yorker, I can survive anything, guns, drugs, gangs, mafia... You give it ta me, and I'll fugging take it!"

A Minnesotan just has to say... "I'm from Minnesota."

And usually, you'll hear a... "Fuck, you guys are nuts!"

We're left alone.

But seriously... Once you've survived a Minnesotan Winter, you DO feel powerful. If you can survive -20°C temps and wind-chills that get significantly colder, with the blowing snow and the deadly icy roads...

Hell, you can survive anything.

Anyhoo... I'm actually looking forward to the Winter, but I'm not so fond of the "in between" stage of November. When the damp cold sinks right into your bones... I mean, I actually CREAK in this type of weather, and it's not very fricking comfortable.

Bring on the damn snow already!

Anyhoo...

The amazing Goddess, has found a distance-learning course in Art History at the Open University (a big UK on-line, sort of thing) and she's excited about it. So am I... I think it would be a wonderful course for her to get her feet wet... There's a serious lack of Art History taught in UK art colleges. Just like there's a serious lack of Art Theory taught in the US art colleges. Well... I had to spend two years trying to catch up with my Brit art friends, and now Fi's going to spend a year trying to catch up with all of us Yank artists. I say... YAY YOU! Go for it pook!

Mick, has updated his Novel, and has to do about 2100 words a day to catch up with the deadline through NaNoWriMo. I added up MY word-count, and discovered that I need to do 2400 words a day to complete my novel in time. Muahahahaha... Yeah, like that's going to happen? Not. But I'm going to keep writing. Why the hell not! I'm enjoying the exercise, and I've always wanted to write a book.

Beyond that... Nothing much more to report for the day. I hope everyone is well. See ya, readers!

Slàinte - T