January 17: Cold, Snow, Darkness

Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that the people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way.  The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there.

Yes, this passage from the beginning of A Christmas Carol pretty much describes the morning.  The wind is blowing; snow is swooping in from Lake Superior; and the darkness is thick as cement.  I'm supposed to go for a walk with a coworker before work, and I'm not too sure about slogging through this weather.  I need the exercise, but it's going to be like Admiral Byrd reaching the South Pole.  Cold.  Snow. Darkness.

Chuck dreaming of a white Christmas

We've had a fairly mild winter in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The stretch of bad weather this past week or so is the first we've had in a very long time.  According to everything I've read about weather in Charles Dickens' time, Dickens pretty much invented the white London Christmas.  In fact, Dickens single-handedly created much of the modern image of the holiday:  Christmas trees, goose and turkey, snow, ghost stories by a roaring fireplace, and snow everywhere.

January is a long, cold month for residents of the U.P.  It almost feels like one extended winter solstice.  I come to work in the dark.  I drive home in the dark.  However, I have noticed, in the last week or so, that the sky is not completely devoid of light on my 5 p.m. drive.  That warms my heart.

I'm not complaining about the weather this morning.  I live in the middle of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, surrounded by lakes.  I expect lake effect snow and wind and darkness this time of year.

Saint Marty just wishes he had a glass of hot chocolate, a roaring fire, and some chestnuts to roast (not to eat, just to roast).