Optimist or Masochist: bring on more snow!

I'm not one who's won much, but gaining the title of having lived in Boston during the worst snowfall in recorded history would be some kind of badge of honor, especially when the rest of my family is on the West Coast. And who wants to be in second place? A few more inches of the white stuff will take us to the top of the charts. Bring it on!

On March 7, 2007, on a balmy day that promised an early spring, I slipped on some invisible black ice and cracked my head open. Eight stitches later my body felt bruised and beat up, an outer manifestation of my crashing economic and romantic situations at the time. What appeared to be a beautiful day turned into a "whack on the side of the head" that got me moving in a new direction in my life.  What's the point here? I like what I can see. Not the invisible black ice hidden in some imaginary scene of happily ever after.

So when I go out walking in sub freezing temperatures like today, I relish the patches of gleaming ice I can carefully avoid. I like "snow days" when I can slow down the pace, eat junk I normally avoid, in short, get to enjoy sick days without being sick. Or it's like playing hookie without any penalty. I admit I have spent days streaming obscure TV series on Netflix without getting out of the pjs, but that luxury soon led to insomnia from lack of exercise. So I put on my trusty yaktrax, as you know from earlier posts, and resumed my Boston walking.

Today I saw these prickly nuts—excuse me I don't know the correct name—dotting the snow mounds along Massachusetts Avenue beside the Church Park apartment complex. I picked up several and took a picture of them (above) once I was back in my cozy apartment. A moment of beauty amidst the graying snow becoming more ugly with dog urine stains, cigarette buts, and assorted trash. Some new snow will cover the dirt, get us closer to first place, and maybe even give us a few more snow daze.

Counting "Smoots" is moot when you're trudging across the Mass Ave bridge.

More runners than you might expect are out doing their thing no matter the temps.

Perhaps I can be so cavalier because I do most of my work from home, and I gave up having a car over two years ago. I don't own a shovel and I'm proud of it! Condo living has its benefits and not having to dig out a car, go into a skid, or find overnight parking on days and nights of parking bans has gone a long way in my ability to remain unphased by most of this white stuff. Uber and Lyft have helped out as well as Enterprise Car Share for the days when I need a car.

Never retrieved since late January

There is an expression in Buddhism, "When the conditions are right, blossoms appear." So hold on because in a few long weeks we may actually see the crocuses bursting through the melting snow. But in the meantime, I say see the snow blossoms, the prickly inscrutable nuts dancing on the snow mounds and the invigorating air that can clear my head enough to see the beauty of the race for first place. We're expecting more snow tonight and into tomorrow. We're so close! Just a couple more storms and we can get the trophy.