Here’s a thing that never fails to amuse me. In New York City, when it snows, people use umbrellas. I don’t understand why. Are they wearing something with heavy dyes that will run if the some minute amount of moisture hits it? Is the hair dressing they’ve opted for water soluble? Nah. I think it’s a weird, citified aversion to anything perceived as being Nature (pronounced NAY-cha around these parts. I remember once visiting people out in Canarsie and we went to a park looking out over Jamaica Bay. A group of children were there with their grandmoms. Kids: “Grammy, can we go play there?” (indicating a sort of beach). Grandmom: “Oh yeah, that’s some NAY-cha. Go play in the NAY-cha, but don’t get dirty.”

Things like that make me pretty pleased that I had the foresight at such an early age (that would be, fetal) to grow up in NAY-cha. My dad bought four and a half wooded acres in Plumstead Township and built a house thereupon in 1949. Some of my favorite things to do growing up were walking up streams, swimming in waterholes, catching frogs, running through winter wheat fields, river swimming, bike rides, discovering ancient abandoned farm houses in the middle of the woods, and the like. As I got older, of course, I was yearning for some action, and started to pine for a life 'in town.' Overall, it was great up until about age 15.

But I sure don't remember anyone responding to snow this way ("Disaster! Catastrophe! Worst Storm to Hit New York in Decades!"). It snows during the winter. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. It means that the driveway had to be shoveled, and that going anywhere in the car was problematic. But I found it interesting to note that the End-of-the-World coverage in the local dailies tended to be accompanied by pictures of happy New Yorkers frolicking in the snow. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that snow is good. Okay, if you're mobility impaired or a wheelchair user, than it's not good. But otherwise, it's good.

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