snow drifted, the wind
crying because it could not
get in by the fire
From the book Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the line, “But Laura and Mary listened to that lonely sound in the dark and the cold of the Big Woods, and they were not afraid.
They were cosy and comfortable in their little house made of logs, with the snow drifted around it and the wind crying because it could not get in by the fire.
It was 32 degrees Fahrenheit this morning in the low country.
I didn’t come here for the cool weather let me tell you.
Much is made of, in the News, when the snow storms in the South because the South doesn’t think about snow.
There are no snow shovels.
There is no road salt.
There are no snow plows.
There are no shoulders along the roads to put the snow or to direct your car when you lose control.
It is a big deal.
More so it seems to the people up north that the people in the south don’t prepare for snow.
Do you know why the people in the south don’t prepare for snow?
They DON’T HAVE TO!
If it snows down here, it IS a surprise … not something you have to prepare for like you do up north.
Today there is no snow, no ice.
Just cold.
And the south doesn’t think about cold.
I am sitting in my office and my fingers are numb.
My feet are blocks of ice.
I have on 4 shirts and a fleece vest.
BTW, the vest is something I picked up on sale one summer in an outfitters store in Mackinac, Michigan.
It would be just the thing, I said, to wear at work IN MICHIGAN … IN THE SUMMER TIME, when the air conditioning was set to 65.
When I started work here, the building I work in had central air and central heating, South Carolina style, which means these huge on-the-wall units in each area of the building.
We had a remote control for the unit and we could turn up the heat or turn down the AC as we wanted.
Over the summer the building went through a multi-million dollar renovation and standard central HVAC was installed.
The thermostat is NOT in my office.
I am not sure where that thermostat is located.
What I do know is that whatever room it is in, it must be about 85 degrees because in my office, on a morning where it is 32 degree’s outside, the air conditioning is running.
The sunny south.
It IS sunny outside but you cannot see the cold.
I can feel it, but I can’t see it.
What do I miss from living in the north.
The change in seasons?
Somehow that seems to be on most folks lists.
The food?
The beauty of the Great Lake State?
Nope.
I think back to warm heat.
The heat from a fire place.
The warmth of being inside where the wind is crying … because it can’t get in by the fire.
No Haiku For You 