It’s the end of January here in Michigan. The middle of winter. I know this because I’ve lived here nearly all my life and that’s just the way of the winters here. They start as early as October and go as late as May.

This one was kind enough to start later in November. But then, it got ugly. December was day after day of snow. I liked it at first. Fluffy and clean. But I thought for a while that our house might become the Noah’s Ark of modern times (what with our three pets and three humans). The snow just kept coming. One day we got about 12 inches and I hardly got back down our street when I left work.

And after December wrapped up, January felt the need not only to dump more snow, but to also deal up some frigid temps.

I’m not so enamored of the season anymore. In fact, I’m done.

But…

I’m trying very hard to look at the bright side. So as I walked Juliette through unshoveled sidewalks after a day of another three inches of white stuff, as I huffed and puffed along under my heavy winter gear and the uneven path, I decided to relish the fact that I was getting some pretty decent exercise. That’s my ode to the snow for today. I’ll have to try to come up with more since we’re nowhere near the end of this stuff.