Take Heart from These Winter Blues

This time of year, many of you living on top half of the globe are ready to heave your snow shovels and count down to spring.  Teachers think about making up snow days.  Kids can’t wait for more snow days.  And parents … well, parents are bedraggled from entertaining kids as weather delays and school closing take their toll. 

Photo: courtesy of Leigh Shearin

Living in the US southeast, I love our mild winters in Dixie.  We get one or two snowfalls each season, but the white stuff usually melts within 48 hours.  However, there’s always a chance of that one freak storm, when we we’re advised to stay off slick roads for days, or the power fails, and we shiver in the dark. 

​I remember one wretched storm when we were iced in for three days. We existed on peanut butter sandwiches and cold cereal.  We also developed a craving for chocolate because it was not stocked in our pre-storm pantry. 

Long lines at every register

So we don’t take chances with our Southern Snows.  
 
Without fail, as soon as forecasters predict winter weather, there’s a mad dash to the grocery stores and long waits at the check-out lines.

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Yes, they have no bananas

We stock up on milk, bread, bottled water and other essentials ....  whatever we might crave if we're unable to get out of the house for an extended time. 

​Then we hunker down, one eye on school closings and the other on social media to see who and where in the county reports the first flake or ice pellet.

See for yourself.....Come crunch along with me as I head outside to fetch the morning newspaper at the top of a Carolina ice/sleet/freezing rain storm. Careful not to slip!
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2016 Ice Storm

Come, walk with me as I head outside this morning to fetch the newspaper.#2016Blizzard Ice/sleet/freezing rain in the Carolinas. Be safe out there!

Posted by Cat Michaels - Writer on Friday, January 22, 2016

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​Friends and family up north laugh at us, but we quite like our winters this way.  Everything slows down; comes to a standstill.  As long as we have power and food, it’s all good!

See how hardy Yankees living in the rural northern (US) deal with the cold stuff.  Today’s guest blogger, Leigh Shearin, has a different take on winter.  Having moved to a farm in upstate New York, she embraces her long season of winter.  Camera in hand and four-wheel drive engaged, Leigh's photographer’s eye and writer’s soul capture nature’s frozen beauty around her rural home.  Winter Blues, she calls it.
 
Come along to Leigh's winter world, and see her Instagram-winning photographs.   Visit Leigh's blog by clicking HERE. 

Hey, don’t forget to pack your woolies and boots!

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Please join the conversation in the comment section.
How do you tackle winter in your part of the world?

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