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Got an email from a friend in New York.
Message from New York
Just received an e-mail from a friend in New York.Says it’s been snowing heavy for three days.
He’s concerned as his wife has done nothing but stare thru the window the entire time.
Says if it doesn’t let up soon he’ll have to let her in.
i don’t miss the snow at all, but what i do miss is the ability to track time by the change of seasons. here it’s either dry or it’s not. nothing else much changes, flowers still bloom all year as do trees. and xmas comes and goes with nary a flutter whereas in colorado you can pretty much count on a white christmas. i also don’t miss being cold, or slipping and sliding on ice when i’m driving or walking. here it’s the barro we have to be careful of and the slime that accumulates on sidewalks that makes them more slippery than ice.
Your friend is a sick, sick man, Versatile.
Marcia showed me a wintry picture online this morning. All the trees and ground were covered and a guy was hoofing it across the street. Marcia, being from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, thought it was pretty. My response was that the best part of the picture was that the guy crossing the street wasn’t me.
I grew up in Colorado since 9 and traded shoveling snow for gray in Seattle and I am about done with that too. Having live in desert climates from birth to 1971 and 1981-86 and sunny Colorado, I need the sun more every year. I did a 2 year stint in Alaska and that place is NOT or me either.
Snow in video and pictures is good enough or me.My longest experience in the snow was a decade living in New York City and travelling upstate to spend time with my ex-wife’s family…..
The snow in Manhattan’s Central Park looks lovely and it’s beautiful on the streets too when it’s fresh but, when it started to melt, you see all the dog shit that the dog owner’s failed to collect, left behind on the streets – Yeech!
Upstate New York is gorgeous is gorgeous in the snow and in Autumn (fall) but I prefer Costa Rica any day ….
PS. Thanks for making me laugh out loud this morning ‘versatile.’
Living in the mountains of Canada, I can truthfully say ‘[i]it is beautiful to look at….'[/i]
But it was/is beautiful the rest of the year as well.I grew up in Ohio but had the good sense to move to Miami by the time I was 31….29 years ago. I have never missed the snow or the colors of autumn as my siblings seem to think would be the case if they were to leave the northern latitudes. The truth is pretty simple, obvious and documented…most people are happier in the sun and the spring-like temperatures such as that of the Costa Rican Central Valley. I find it difficult to understand or even imagine how anyone cold prefer the cold, grey dead landscapes of northern winters. In fact, I just don’t believe anyone really does.
[quote=”sprite”]I grew up in Ohio but had the good sense to move to Miami by the time I was 31….29 years ago. I have never missed the snow or the colors of autumn as my siblings seem to think would be the case if they were to leave the northern latitudes. The truth is pretty simple, obvious and documented…most people are happier in the sun and the spring-like temperatures such as that of the Costa Rican Central Valley. I find it difficult to understand or even imagine how anyone cold prefer the cold, grey dead landscapes of northern winters. In fact, I just don’t believe anyone really does.[/quote]
You just don’t really know what you are missing. The winter world is just as beautiful as a summer world. Get off your verbal soap box and take a real look at life.
[quote=”Versatile”][quote=”sprite”]I grew up in Ohio but had the good sense to move to Miami by the time I was 31….29 years ago. I have never missed the snow or the colors of autumn as my siblings seem to think would be the case if they were to leave the northern latitudes. The truth is pretty simple, obvious and documented…most people are happier in the sun and the spring-like temperatures such as that of the Costa Rican Central Valley. I find it difficult to understand or even imagine how anyone cold prefer the cold, grey dead landscapes of northern winters. In fact, I just don’t believe anyone really does.[/quote]
You just don’t really know what you are missing. The winter world is just as beautiful as a summer world. Get off your verbal soap box and take a real look at life.[/quote]
Cold, bitter weather sucks. You can spin it any way you like if it makes such a miserable climate more palatable for you, but REALITY is that human comfort is a big part of what makes a climate and geography beautiful. Costa Rica qualifies as a truly beautiful geography for this reason.
The winter world of the north is usually populated by black tree trunks with leafless limbs, barren fields of dead grass, frozen mud and lead grey skies from which bone chilling winds blow. All the snow does is cover this ugliness with a white blanket of death. And when the snow melts, you have an even worse scene.
One has to be insane or self deluded to prefer such a climate over the one we have in Costa Rica.
I do not know a single person who honestly prefers a northern winter over the Costa Rican climate of the Central Valley.sprite, you wrote, “I do not know a single person who honestly prefers a northern winter over the Costa Rican climate of the Central Valley.”
Well, I do know such a person, but he’s brain-injured.
I grew up farming and working the land. The smell of fresh turned dirt has a place in my life as well. Sure i get tired of winter like most. I guess you have to be close to the land to understand it. Doubtful that a person raised in the city can grasp it. Winter in a city is totally different than living in the country during the winter. The crisp cold air is somewhat rejuvenating. The stillness and beauty of a winter night with the ground covered by snow and a full moon. (priceless) You can’t get that in CR.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]sprite, you wrote, “I do not know a single person who honestly prefers a northern winter over the Costa Rican climate of the Central Valley.”
Well, I do know such a person, but he’s brain-injured.[/quote]
Brain injury is one explanation. Another is that the lack of sunlight can seriously depress a person and cause some skewed assessments. (suicide rates are much higher in northern latitudes) Pristine winter snow coverings may be interesting to see, but they do not qualify as beauty for me because I know what it feels like to be there. Even the rainy season in CR lets us have many hours of sunlight during almost every day.
While I love the colors in the change of seasons and the beauty of new fallen snow I HATE the cold and ice. Events that make you HATE cold weather. .
1) Power outages that leave you without light, heat or water much less communications. Broken plumbing as a result. Sometimes this is an annual event.
2) Ever need to go and the toilet is FROZEN? Seen it one too many times. . . VERY depressing. I’ve also had to melt pots of snow to fill and flush toilets. . .
3) Shoveling snow, falling on ice. . . we don’t bounce like we did as children. I loved it then . . could end up in the hospital now.
4) Installing and removing tire chains several times during a single trip to work or the store. . . “Clear roads” policies complicate this for rural folks who must drive on snow but then must remove the chains for the highway and then replace them on the return. .
5) Damaging, wrecking or totaling your automobile. . . I’ve avoided that by staying HOME for a week at a time now that I work from home. But lots of folks don’t think they have a choice (they do).
6) Broken windshield wipers due to ice or snow. Costly replacement wipers due to ice that the defroster will not totally melt but you must run them to see.
7) Salt damage to automobiles, side walks, steps. . (and yes, highway bridges are damaged by salt – and costs us in taxes).
8 ) Ice dams and roof problems that don’t show up otherwise.
AND many more. . .
Yesterday I went out into the shop and the roof had developed a leak, icicles hanging indoors. The leak was also dripping onto my bandwaw. . which is now covered with ice and more icicles. It will requires a thorough derusting, cleaning and oiling aver the freeze. As if I need more to do. . .
I have friends that live in Costa Rica and take ski vacations when they want to play in the snow. . .
I spent time in the Sacramento area of California. They have two basic seasons, hot dry and a very brief “wet” season and spring. Blink and you miss it. What I missed from the Eastern US was green. Even in the winter we have the evergreens, holly, mountain laurel and other year round green plants. But the rest of the year it is green and then green highlighted with autumn red, yellow and orange. In Costa Rica it is much the same except the colors are year round with Northern and Southern species alternating with the spring and summer flowering tropical species. . . Lots of seasonal color but no ice or snow!
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]Your friend is a sick, sick man, Versatile.
Marcia showed me a wintry picture online this morning. All the trees and ground were covered and a guy was hoofing it across the street. Marcia, being from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, thought it was pretty. My response was that the best part of the picture was that the guy crossing the street wasn’t me.[/quote]
Oh David, thank you SO much for this great laugh!!!
I have morphed into someone that “thinks” he would prefer the tropics on a full time basis….eventually. I do also enjoy the 4 seasons we have here in the North East, they all offer something beautiful. I also love to ski and snowboard, then getting off the mountain and into a hot tub or heated outdoor pool. Dinner by a fire….Thats how I’ll be spending this weekend.
I have really enjoyed living in the North East, from NYC we are close to so many diverse and wonderful places;beaches,mountains, summers on Cape Cod, skiing in Vermont, theater and great food in Manhattan.
That said I look forward to spending 3 months a year in Costa Rica and quite possibly retiring there in 20 years.
I know many people who would not trade the diversity of seasons for CR living full time. My sister lives in Florida, not for me, theres not much I like about that state, other than a weekend of golf in the winter.
Happy and Healthy New Year Everyone!
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