Snow

Snow seem to be following me lately. My flight to New York was delayed early last week because of predicted snow showers. Luckily, there were no showers and we arrived at LaGuardia Airport only 20 minutes late. The chill was unbearable throughout the week, though.

I dodged snow in New York but not in Atlanta. My return to Atlanta was delayed due to snow on the ground. Yesterday, it snowed again in Atlanta. Because it was a Saturday and I didn’t need to drive anywhere, I enjoyed the snow. My backyard looked absolutely gorgeous; the lawn looked like it was covered in plush white carpet with step stones retaining it’s original look. There were not much snow on the front yard though. As I was taking photos early afternoon, I saw my neighbors walking. Great idea! I too geared up with my camera and walked around my neighborhood taking more photos.

Having lived in Madison, Wisconsin, I learnt the air is fresh and clean when it snows. The temperature rises after it snows. I moved to Madison from Singapore in December. Coming from a tropical climate where the lowest temperature is around 65 °F (18 °C), my body went into shock in the winter weather. I loved to watch the snow from indoor but wasn’t too thrilled to go outdoor. My brothers and their friends very soon changed my mind.

Madison, with four breathtaking lakes, is often called The City of Four Lakes. I loved Lake Monona and Lake Mendota. Lake Monona was barely five minutes drive from my brother’s, Sid, house while Lake Mendota was a walking distance from my the other brother’s, Hasan, office and barely 7 minutes drive from his house. So, I had easy access to both the lakes. In winter, when the lakes freeze, skiing becomes very popular. I loved it.

During that year, I developed a love-hate relationship with Madison. Very quickly I fell in love with winter sports, skiing, snow-boarding, ice skating, ice fishing and jogging. I love to jog. My house in Singapore was a 10 minutes jog from the beach. My favorite time, after a stressful day, was to jog by the beach. I’m inspired and destressed when jogging by the ocean-front beach. Water has a calming effect on me. I missed the beach terribly my first year away from Singapore. The lakes became a small consolation whenever I missed East Coast beach in Singapore.

My darker relationship with Madison was the winter as well. Days were very short and sometimes I would wonder why bother getting out of PJs; it will be evening soon anyway. I love the sunlight. I don’t do well when days are gloomy and short.

Getting out of the house was another chore. It took at least half an hour to put on layers of clothes, winter shoes or boots, scrapping the snow from the car and driveway. Though I never shoved driveways, I didn’t like having to wait half an hour just to go out.

Madison has incredible snow equipments. No matter how many inches of snow fell on the city, the roads were always clear to drive. I was amazed by that. The challenge was when bridges and roads turned to ice. Ice can be deceptive if one is not used to driving in winter climate, which I was not. I was so often told to be careful and to look out for ice that I did only that whenever I drove in freezing temperature. I knew my brothers would be by me within five to ten minutes if my car met an accident on the ice. It was still an annoyance that I could not drive carefree during those icy evenings and nights.

More ramblings soon….