The March Snows...

I woke up this morning at around 6:00am.  My condo apartment faces east, so when the eastern sky begins to lighten up, I wake up. I do not have shades or curtains by choice, so my sleeping patterns are governed by the natural cycle of the four seasons in the Northeast section of North America. Sun is up??? Odds are I am up as well. Today was no exception. The sky was a bit overcast, but no precipitation , but then....about an hour later, it started.

Started quietly, that is...a gentle rain hitting against the window, but enough to cause me to abandon my plans for an early morning at the gym.  The gym is only around the corner, but I have to go up and down a flight of stairs over the local train, so I just made an excuse to stay in and hunker down.  But soon the snow was flying.  At first it was a pretty sweet flurry with a gentle wind that made it swirl lightly around the roof deck clinging to the now frozen rements of the summer potted plants I neglected to remove. Soon the snow was clinging to the cold wrought iron balcony railings making its presence felt in the delicately curved circles and curves of its utilitarian design giving it a dollop of what looks like snow-inspired whipped cream topping.

But then it intensifies in strength. A pall of greyish white descends over the harbor; I can no longer see Brooklyn.  Soon the bridge disappears. The freighters and cargo ships anchored nearby are no longer visible, and the fog horns begin their solitary moaning  in a rhythmic call and response pattern. The cars on Bay Street become fewer and fewer and their headlights become muted and blurred in the uncontrolled tumble of larger and gloppier snow flakes.  The snow seem to crash into vehicles as they wind their way down to the ferry terminal. The pair of pigeons who normally perch briefly on the roof deck wall are huddled close together cooing and searching the quickly shrinking horizon for their other aviary companions, but there are none in sight.

So life here is slowing down at a winter pace forced upon us by nature and time of year. Yesterday I was thinking of what to plant in the containers I keep up here.  Today I called to make sure the cab I need to my trip to the airport will be here tomorrow  The news of yet another winter storm is floating through the airways, and contrary to most around here, it is making me smile.

And that is because I am leaving the cold for another warmer place. Leaving tomorrow for Los Angeles and then on to a cruise on the Pacific to Hawaii, something I have wanted to do for quite some time. And even though these plans were several months in the making, it seems this is the perfect time to spend in the sun.  I will come back with a better attitude, I promise.