Skip to main content

The Benefits and Challenges of Winter

 The New Yorker Magazine

I'm taking a half hour to sprint through three copies of The New Yorker. I'm doing this because I am frightened that there's another one waiting in my mailbox in the lobby.

It's not that there isn't exciting reading in the magazine. My God, it's been a bastion for top writers in America for many years. The reason I have so many unread issues is that it is so easy to set them aside for reading later. Later never comes. 

Despite all this angst, I've gotten my money's worth if I peruse the cartoons. A day without Roz Chast is a day not worth the beans enough to make you fart. 

Huddled Up And Waiting For The Storm
Date 12/22/2022, 10:00 am.

I'm angry and frightened about the behavior of those of us living in The Frozen Tundra. A week ago, the metrologists predicted a storm for the ages, leaving many of us buried in snow ventured then to measure 10-20 inches.

For some, this means a journey to the garage to start the snow blower to be sure it is ready. But, I assure you, this is a small percentage of our hearty population.  

For many Wisconsinites, even gasoline for the snowblower would only be thought of if there were 3 inches of snow on the ground. Then there would be an eye cast to the weather forecast. If it contains warmer temperatures, the 'God put it there, let God take it away' theory would prevail.

This is a state where, when public officials ask people to shelter in place until the danger of the storm has passed, many of us shovel out our driveways and take a trip to the interstate highway nearest us to see how bad it really is. Then, if they still need to plow our streets, we rev up the snowmobile or wax up our cross-country skies.

But now I'm reading on social media that people are performing precautionary things to avoid facing the storm and looking it in the eye the way we should. There are stories about people patting themselves on the back for canceling or shortening trips to avoid being stranded in perfectly hospitable places like Chicago, Los Angeles or Keokuk, Iowa. 

A restaurant, I won't name it, is closing out of an abundance of caution for the safety of its employees. But, if this becomes the norm, I ask you whose name is on the t-shirt that reads, "I survived the storm of 2022 at fill in the blank?"

For all this worry, they now predict that over the next 48 hours, we will accumulate about 3 inches of snow. Hardly newsworthy.


Portrait Of A Woman, Desperation 

Oil 16 x 20
Desperation
A photograph inspired this piece. I apologize; I can't find the original to give credit to the photographer.

Anne Wide sent this to me. Her intention was that I add it to my growing list of dad jokes. Okay, I can do that.

Eggs Benedict served in a hubcap--
Because there's no place like chrome for the Hollandaise




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Diversity

As we look forward to celebrating the Pride we have in our Gay population, (Yeah, I couldn't resist the pun.) I'm pleased to report that diversity in the mix of our residents here in the Fox River Valley continues to surprise me. Example: As my wife and I waited for friends, in the lobby of the Marcus Hollywood Theater on the west side of Appleton, I witnessed three AfricanAmericann ladies buying snacks. Behind them was a Latino couple. At the end of the line, behind was an Asian fellow with three kids. We represented the WASP's. This is in a community that when I first visited in the nineteen sixties, if a black man walked down the street, he more than likely played football for Green Bay. After that, there was a rather pronounced immigration of Hmong and quieter arrival of Latino's. For a while, the worst keep secret was that the new Italian restaurant was actually owned by Mexican's. Since returning to the Valley, I've grown use...
Post a Comment
Read more

A rustle in the hustings

I am trying to stay away from politics on my blog. I know that some of my intended readers do not share my feelings. As well, I don't entice dialogue. Occasionally my readers will address something I've written about. For the most part, they are merely saying something like, "Oh yeah, I felt that way too," regarding some experience, that I related. However, I have to share these particular feelings about the new Ryan Healthcare proposal that is sailing through the House of Representatives. Market-driven healthcare provision: This concept proposes that if put on the free market health care insurance will become more affordable. The theory is there will be competition among insurers to gain market share and lowering the prices will be a possible outcome. None of the insurers want customers who are old people or people with a pre-existing health problem ( heart disease, cancer, etc...) Older people, who are not on medicare, have more health care ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ring The Bell

 It appears there is a tradition in the radiology department at Ascension Hospital that patients, upon completing their course of treatment, ring a bell. ( We know not for whom this bell tolls.) Ring the Bell with My Sweetheart Jeanne. Jeanne drove me to all but two of the appointments. Pam Frautchi took me to the other two. Today, after being zapped thirty-two times, I rang the bell. This begins a roughly one-month recovery period where the effects of the radiation abate and, I'm assured, a return to normalcy occurs. In my case, I anticipate more energy and greater awareness. Books, Books, & More Books I am simultaneously celebrating the end of the third year of volunteering for the All Saints Hunger Book Sale. Next week, we will wrap up the preparation for the sale and open our doors on August 3 for the public. I ran into this humourous but quite accurate cartoon on a T-Shirt that shows most of the volunteer's sentiments at this point. If you think the printed and bound p...
Post a Comment
Read more