Puzzle artists pick perfect weather. They celebrate the hours after the storm has passed and the sun offers bright light.
They ignore the tense moments in car or school bus as tires hunt for traction on slick roads. Or shoveling the driveway. Or breaking a path to the barn to care for the animals. Everything takes longer and a different set of questions cross your mind. Are the water pipes frozen? How did the youngest calf fare? How late will the milk truck be running today?
How was your weather these last few days? Did it storm? Liquid or solid from your clouds? Did you go searching for your heavy coat, gloves, and boots? Or did you have a mild, seasonal weekend?
The residents of this fictional village are having winter fun. I think I’d enjoy a snowman building contest. Doubt if I’d win any prizes. The few snow figures in my past have been basic, not artistic. Perhaps you’d prefer to find a hill and go down on a sled or toboggan?
I find some happy memories including snow and winter storms. True — some of them only rated laughter long after the event — but they serve as lovely punctuation marks in the narrative of my life.
STARR TREE FARM, set during a Wisconsin January, includes remarks on the weather. Check it out (with a nice warm beverage at hand) here: https://amzn.to/2zqIQEw
