Posted By Joel on February 14, 2011

New Englanders are a hardy lot. We don’t complain much and we certainly know how to push through a tough winter. But, even the most hardy of New Englanders will tell you that this year…winter in New England has been…well, to use a local phrase, wicked BIG.

Kids have now had so many snow-days off from school that many schools are requiring kids to give up the spring school vacation. Roads, sidewalks, parking lots have all been so narrowed with plowed snow that getting out and about has been difficult. Roofs have collapsed under the weight of this year’s snowfall.

Writing this, I look out onto my terrace, colored in the off-whites and greys of winter’s monochromatic grip, and am reminded by the mounds of snow sitting in the chairs that we’ve still a long way to go until spring.

Sanity check: a long way off till spring? Just a moment, allow me to refer to a chart of the seasons - no, actually, spring is not so far off! According to Almanac.com, spring in New England begins March 20, 7:21 P.M. EDT, 2011 - the spring equinox – when day and night are approximately 12 hours long and the Sun is at the midpoint of the sky, our north pole tilting towards the Sun.

Spring. Sun. What a lovely thoughts! I imagine the summer terrace: soon, we will gather round the outside dining table in the company of friends to share something from the grill, a glass of wine. Soon, we will sweat and swat flies and shoo mosquitoes. Tiki torches will flicker, citronella candles will burn. Dinners al fresco. Late summer evenings. Soon

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