Winter ramblings

Some months, writing this column comes easily. Other times, it doesn’t. As I sat down to write this column, I felt very stuck. I make it a habit not to comment on the politics of the day. That was all I could think about. But with the news here and in the Middle East moving with lightning speed, something I write today could have you scratching your head by the time the paper reaches your mailbox. It all seemed unsettling. I hope things calm down and we get a clearer picture of what is ahead.

As I tried to refocus, it was snowing outside. It’s February, so snow is a good thing, right? More snow is predicted for later this week, and I heard a forecaster say that February may not be terribly cold, but it could be very snowy. Ugh. I prefer my snow in small, short -lasting doses. I don’t really enjoy driving in the snow. I didn’t grow up in a snowy climate.

But I do enjoy looking out my window at the snow-covered backyard and watching the birds flying back and forth to our birdfeeders. Our cat, Charlotte, enjoys those birds, too. She is a strictly indoor cat. My husband has tried taking her out on a leash with little success. Still she thinks she would enjoy the snow and howls to get out. We have experimented with this on our deck, but it never ends well. She manages to find spots under a table or chair that have no snow and then gets stuck there. She definitely hates having snow on her paws. Often she has to be rescued to get back in the house.

Ironically, February features our camp issue. Producing it always puts me in a positive mood even when I have to drive in the snow and almost no matter what the rest of the articles are about or what is happening in the world. Camp means summer and fun and happy children’s noises, especially by our offices, located near the J-Camp rooms at the Dwares Jewish Community Center.

I get to look through Glenn Osmundson’s excellent photos of our Jewish summer camps and choose a warm weather image for the cover. And I am reminded of warm thoughts of my trip to Camp JORI last summer.

And the camps that advertise in this issue bring added anticipation for summer to our pages.

Did you know the average temperature in the month of February is just 21 degrees? The chance of rain or snow on any given day is 33%. According to the National Weather Service, we only average 2.01 inches of snow in February, which seems off. We’ve already had that much in the first week! Sigh.

The month does feature 173 hours of daylight – more than November, December or January – but it has the least sunshine of any month (58% of those 173 hours). At least it is sunny more than half the time. So that’s good.

Of course, that compares to 260 hours of daylight in August even though it is sunny only a bit more (61% of the time) according to weatherandclimate.com. But it never snows in August.

Just 41 days till spring; 133 days till summer. We can do this.

March, by the way, is our home and garden issue. See what we’re trying to do here? More warm thoughts and visions to come. Advertisers, time to step up and get us ready for planting and flowers and veggies!

Fran Ostendorf, Editor