“Real” Winter Arrives

December, 2022 will be one to remember for most of the United States.  A poet’s reflections fill these verses while looking out a kitchen window.  Always glad to be inside and staying warm when the wind chill plunges to -30 degrees.

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Weather predictions hold true

More winter, never seems through

 

Cold, Arctic air sets up camp

Long-forgotten, frigid scamp

 

“Real” winter arrives in strength

Transmitting on all wavelengths

 

Morning light arrives, dark gray

Sunshine hiding this Friday

 

Landscape shivers under white

Every creature taking flight

 

Freezing wind never lets up

Wintertime’s polar holdup

 

Wind gust rocks home’s foundation

Turning on weather station

 

Snowy drifts growing deeper

Frosty, trusty doorkeeper

 

Barren trees bend against squall

No longer standing so tall

 

Life scatters, seeking shelter

Winter storm’s helter-skelter

 

Visibility nearly gone

Snow heavier than chiffon

 

Quiet roads, traffic withdrawn

No orders from Amazon

 

Keeping each home’s fire burning

Warming hearts, day keeps churning

 

Cup of cocoa, not enough

Snowing outside, rough and tough

 

Grabbing pair of heavy socks

Thawing frozen toes’ icebox

 

Sitting at writing table

Poet ready and able

 

Candle’s light dances like wind

Framing this coldest weekend

  

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Perhaps this cup of hot cocoa will do the trick . . . along with extra marshmallows!

Bewitching Storm

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Nasty winter gale approaching

Forecast broadcasting storm warning

Heavy snow, high winds, Arctic cold

Village alarms sound by morning

 

Life transcends to total frenzy

Salt trucks loaded, very much ready

Snow plow crews set for night’s work

Village life scrambling, unsteady

 

Packed grocery stores in chaos

Hurried, panic-filled shopping carts

Shelves urgently growing empty

Village pace quickens beating hearts

 

Students anticipate closings

Looking forward, lazy “Snow Day”

No classes, no books, no lessons

Village hunkers down, people pray

 

Winter storm “Tabitha” churning

Pondering, bewitching blizzard

Overnight fury passes on

Village eluding storm’s wizard

 

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The Weather Channel has been naming winter storms in America since 2012-2013.  You may have picked up the connection between the “bewitching” blizzard and the name of the storm “Tabitha.”  Tabitha is one of the available winter storm names for the 2020-2021 winter.  Tabitha is also the daughter of Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) on the successful American sitcom “Bewitched” from 1964-1972.

Monday Memories: Start Bailin’

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Milt and I push his small rowboat into the lake’s calm waters on a sunny, early morning.  Fishin’ is absolutely on our minds.

Milt’s boat has stood the test of time, and she definitely looks it.  There are patches here and there, scrapped and worn paint, and even some mismatched planking on the floor.

Rowing the boat far from shore, we arrive at the very best place to fish the lake.  The deep water covers the territory with the biggest fish around.

We both become quite involved with our fishin’ as we cast again and again, hoping to catch the big one.  We fail to notice the threatening skies above.  A mother-of-all thunderstorms appear heading for the lake, and we sit directly in the crosshairs of its vicious aim.

Before we can even think about rowing back to the safety of the shore, Milt and I feel the tiny craft being engulfed by the torrents of rain and the white caps of the charging waves.

Our clothes and fishin’ tackle become soaking wet in a few short minutes, and then the boat begins to list to the starboard side.  She’s taking on water much too quickly.

Looking more anxious by the second, Milt shouts out, “Start bailin’ now!”

Watching my tackle box floating away, I yell back, “With what?”

 

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Start Bailin’

pexels-photo-2344588.jpeg

Photo by Korhan Erdol on Pexels.com

Milt and I push his small rowboat into the lake’s calm waters on a sunny, early morning.  Fishin’ is absolutely on our minds.

Milt’s boat has stood the test of time, and she definitely looks it.  There are patches here and there, scrapped and worn paint, and even some mismatched planking on the floor.

Rowing the boat far from shore, we arrive at the very best place to fish the lake.  The deep water covers the territory with the biggest fish around.

We both become quite involved with our fishin’ as we cast again and again, hoping to catch the big one.  We fail to notice the threatening skies above.  A mother-of-all thunderstorms appears heading for the lake, and we sit directly in the crosshairs of its vicious aim.

Before we can even think about rowing back to the safety of the shore, Milt and I feel the tiny craft being engulfed by the torrents of rain and the white caps of the charging waves.

Our clothes and fishin’ tackle become soaking wet in a few short minutes, and then the boat begins to list to the starboard side.  She’s taking on water much too quickly.

Looking more anxious by the second, Milt shouts out, “Start bailin’ now!”

Watching my tackle box floating away, I yell back, “With what?”

sea under white dramatic sky

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