Monday, February 4, 2008

looking for the silver lining

February is a difficult month for me, and today is a good example of why. The temperature hovers right around 30 degrees, which means that some, but not all, of the ice that covers all horizontal surfaces has melted into huge, icy puddles. The sidewalks are bumpy, uneven sheets of ice covered by freezing water. Rufus and I will not be able to take a walk again today.

The sun has not been out since (let me see - counting backwards...) last Thursday, but that was while I was at my dad's house, so it may have been overcast here. The sky is gray, the leafless trees are gray, the ice-covered streets and sidewalks are gray... Well, you get the idea. While it is true that each day is imperceptibly longer, it just doesn't seem to matter much when the whole day passes by without a glimmer of sunshine.

April may be the cruelest month, but it's a damn good thing that February is the shortest one. On the plus side, however, the New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl yesterday. That puts a smile on my face every time I think about it.


6 comments:

jamanci said...

wow, so maybe i got my hatred of this time of year from you, then? it's always been the worst, most awful time for me, too. at least in november and december (when it's equally sunless and freezing) there's the holiday season to keep you distracted from it. now there's nothing but the long haul till springtime.

how 'bout that superbowl? long stretches were boring boring boring, but the 4th quarter was pretty exciting! andrew and i had the misfortune to be at a party full of fans of your sort--that is to say, mostly there to root against the patriots. :) didn't bother me too much--my team never wins--but andrew was a bit troubled.

i was going to bring something fun or fancy to the party, but andrew had brought pizza rolls last year (and apparently the year before, when i wasn't here), so they had actually planned into their menu that he would have them!

as a side note, the frozen, premade hotdogs in crescent rolls are NOT as good, in case you were wondering. i would have brought them some real ones if i had known!

anne mancine said...

You may not have inherited your dislike of February from me. You may just hate it because it is a crappy month.

Ben said...

Some other things, while we're trashing this month, would be:
a) I can't get warm
b) The house seems dark and dim
c) It's leap year: *29* days this month
d) Not enough holidays
e) Only March to look forward to, and that's *my* worst month

Bryan said...

When I was a kid, I always associated February with snow days, because it seemed we always had one during that month. In fact -- I'll only admit this because I don't plan on ever going on the Tonight Show or running for public office -- there is video footage of me doing a "snow dance" on Valentine's Day on more than one occasion, both of which resulted in days off school on February 15th. And last year, there was that huge snow storm on V-day, so much so that I didn't have my car dug out until noon; I and most of my co-workers called off.

But other than that, yeah, I could take or leave February.

anne mancine said...

The headline in today's Plain Dealer reads: "Feeling Gloomy? It's Not Just You". If the sun doesn't shine today (which it probably won't) we will set a five-year record for the most sunless days in a row - eight.

Now we can all feel vindicated, instead of feeling like whiny complainers.

anne mancine said...

And let me just add that what with this being February 8th, that would be every day so far this month.