Frozen

Okay, I’ve just about had it with winter.

• My sinuses are in full revolt. My nose is all “thanks but it’s January and time for me to be more clogged than the Tip O’Neill tunnel during evening rush hour.”

• I’m running through moisturizer like RFK Jr. eats through roadkill. Seriously, I drink a ridiculous amount of water and have a humidifier going 24/7, yet my skin still has a texture that makes Death Valley jealous.

• Though it MIGHT reach as high as 39º fahrenheit today (versus last week’s sub-zero horseshit), there’s still a ton of snow and ice along the seawall path. MAYBE it’ll all melt so’s I can walk outside this afternoon but I kind of doubt it. I’m quite keen on staying upright—not slipping, sliding, and falling on my delicate fucking head.

Luckily, I’ve a recumbent elliptical so I can do my cardio exercising inside BUT that does fuck-all for improving my wonk-ass balance and building up the muscles around my ankles and calves. Sure, I could go down to the mall for a walk BUT most people go around unmasked. The chance of catching the flu, COVID or pneumonia doesn’t thrill me in the least. I have enough health obstacles without adding those into the mix. I could do laps of the house BUT my home is small. “Tiny” would not be a descriptive stretch.

Wollaston Beach in ice

What to do? Extra PT exercises, the elliptical, and Ten will check the melt sitch on the seawall at noon.

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
~ Carl Reiner

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.
~ Ben Aaronovitch, Broken Homes

Sounds excellent but reading all day in my comfy chair doesn’t rebuild my surgery banjaxed physical strength and endurance. Otherwise, that’d be totes awesome. The other problem is that I finished my good book—Redshirts by John Scalzi. The next library book (currently on hold) isn’t due to hit my Kindle for another two weeks. Woe-as-hell is me!

Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.
~ Sinclair Lewis

Andrew Wyeth—Winter Carnival

It’s work—hard fucking work. I want spring NOW, goddammit

No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter.
~ Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows 

This as it should be.

The problem with winter sports is that - follow me closely here - they generally take place in winter.
~ Dave Barry

To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.
~ Aristotle

Thanks, I’ll just take your word for it. There are 66 more days until spring.