Defending Winter

Maybe it is being triple-Libra, thus a lover of balance, that makes us fond of winter, and sorry for people who aren't.

It's easy to love summer. The days of soda and pretzels and beer. People walk around without much clothes on. There's swimming, sports, travel, and long, warm days.

We like all that, but also want to make the case for short, cold days.

You know: those warm days are often hot days. There's not much you can do for relief then. When it's cold, you can bundle up. Around the house, you can wear slippers and feel smart.

Long days can be too long, in our experience. Except for kids playing outside, as kids don't do anymore anyway, who really needs it to be light out until 9:30 p.m.? Especially since crazed birds are going to wake you at 5 a.m.?

In winter, when it's dark at 5 p.m., you have every right to go to bed at a baby time without feeling like a slouch.

If you can't bring yourself to go to bed at 9 p.m. (4 hours after nightfall, after all, thus like well past midnight in summer), winter nights are perfect for catching up on your reading. Afghan, tea, orange, book.

Or catch up on your movie watching. We recently tuned into one of those cable channels that show classic movies, and saw "High Noon" for the first time, and found that, despite being a standard Western, it is also politically subversive; also, artistically innovative. It takes place in real time, just like "24" on TV, but 50 years before, and without all the contrived plots, reactionary politics, and whispering.

Winter is time to rest. Don't fight it. Luxuriate in it. Buy an ice cream cone and take a slow, long walk. Don't worry about the ice cream melting.

Wear a hat -
Steve Burke
for Ithaca Blog