Winter Be Here! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

     Winter is finally here. Less those of you who hold to winter only arriving on the 21st, let me remind you that there are several "first day of Winter." The one that corresponds to the 21st day of December is the Astronomical winter, when the day is the shortest of the year and the the 22nd begins a return to sunlight, or more of it shall we say.

     Then there is the first day of winter from a sailor's perspective. This day varies from sailor to sailor but suffice it to say that for each it takes place when your boat is lifted from the water for the winter. for me, winter actually began shortly after Columbus Day, Thursday or Friday of that week. I wasn't present, but I sort of felt it nonetheless.

     I would think that today qualifies as well for the first day of Winter as I am  sitting at a kitchen table in Griswold and it is snowing.  It is cold, below freezing obviously, and snowing. If we can trust NOAA, the "exact and precise" amount of snow that we should receive is 2 - 5 inches. then again, they did predict that Philly would get "only a dusting" and they got pretty close to a foot on Sunday. So who knows. In any event, there isn't anything I can do about it except enjoy it. Later on today, when there is sufficient accumulation on the ground, Ill take a walk while it is still snowing. There is nothing like it. There is a strange softening and muffling of sound during a snow fall and there is something about it that I find beautiful. I just wish that it would do me the favor of melting as soon as it has finished falling!