Thursday, January 27, 2011

WINTER WONDERLAND (CONT'D)

Another big snowstorm here in my part of Jersey, dropped what appears to be a foot or more [after I went out and shoveled my car out with some help from some of my fellow apartment dwellers, I realized it was closer to two feet!]. Added to the accumulation that was already on the ground and now when we shovel a tunnel down the front sidewalk the snow on the sides is above my hip in some spots.

It is so beautiful out today I can't even express how grateful it makes me to be out in such an extraordinary landscape. Pure white soft snow covering all the trees, outlining the leafless branches otherwise dark from the wetness, the stark contrast making it feel more like living inside an art work than a neighborhood.

And again the quiet, as most things come to a halt, except for the sound of shoveling or people's voices now and then, but muffled, as if the entire scene were wrapped in tons of cotton. I know it's a hassle (my car is covered and surrounded by so much snow, and they haven't plowed the lot where I pay to park it, so even if I had the energy to shovel through to get to it there's no way I can drive it out) but the way I see it, it's the universe's way of saying, hey, slow down, take your time, enjoy the moment without having to get somewhere and fulfill some overbooked schedule, relax and dig mother nature's bountiful variety show.

At least that's the way I'm taking it. Wish you were here to dig it with me (well, wish most of you were anyway).

[PS: Oh, and how many times do rightwingers have to be told that severe winters are not a sign that there is no "global warming"—climate change and weather extremes is in fact just the opposite, proof that there is, and once again in case anyone missed it, 2010 was a record breaking winter for many of us in terms of snowfall etc. and 2011 looks on track to beat it, but 2010 also was the warmest year on record for the earth in general, and saw some of the severest weather on record as well, but the poor dears on the right can't hold two contrary ideas in their minds at the same time, that's why they need the simplicity of concepts limited to one simple idea that if repeated enough not only convinces them it's true but makes them feel better. As I've pointed out, early in my recovery from brain surgery when my mind was working on a very limited basis, I couldn't take the layers of subtleties and ironies embedded in The Daily Show, it made my head feel like it would explode, which gave me the insight into rightwing success, that most rightwingers brains are wired in such a way that their brains start to actually hurt or just quickly reject anything too complex and they reach for the simplest ideas and formulas that make their brains feel much better, but they do have to have those simple ideas reaffirmed on a daily basis, or even more often, which is why (as my friend Fred Liberman has pointed out) Fox and Rush and other rightwing media are so popular because to feel okay rightwingers need to be reassured constantly and have their simple ideas reaffirmed constantly whereas the rest of us can drop in on various media and form our own opinions and ideas with a little from here and a little from there etc. and accept that not everything is black and white simplistic.]

18 comments:

JIm said...

Snow means warming. Snow means warming. If I say it often enough, I might become a believer and acceptable in polite liberal society. Woops, I mispoke. There is no such thing as polite liberal society.

Loyeen said...

From one "polite liberal" to another rightwinger, tea party person, conservative or whatever you call yourself today. Do you ever get on the blog to say anything half-way nice? Talk you tonight, in between your polite "Fox", unbiased news.

Lally, stay warm and enjoy the powder!

Loyeen

Lally said...

Thanks Loyeen. Don't know how you do it. I was about to delete Jim's comment because of course it is another lie, the politest societies are "liberal" by most objective criteria (whose politer to sick people, the liberal societies of Europe and Canada, or the conservative ones of third world dictators etc. of the red states in our union...), but kept it in since you responded and it also proves the point I was making that he seems to think he's somehow refuting by repeating a simplistic lie! If the rightwingers hadn't caused and weren't causing so much damage to our society and well being, I'd just pity the poor souls, but they're too dangerous to be so easily dismissed.

Tim said...

I work across the street from Madison Square Park, and it's a spectacular sight today. Snow has stuck to trees from their trunks to the highest branches. I'll send photos. What a beautiful day. My kids are ecstatic. The sidewalks in my part of South Orange are walled in with three feet of snow. The yard has drifts reaching even higher.

Anonymous said...

Jim, go away. You might be able to find some folks out there who care about what you say. This aint the place. Here you are the resident pest...

JIm said...

Loyeen,

Yes My Love.

Lally said...

Tim, I hear you. Just driving up my street earlier today was like driving through scene from some classic movie set in winter, exquisite.

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

Talk about the inclusive coexistence of seeming opposites - Loyeen and Jim. Look at your own existence and perhaps you can learn truth.

JIm said...

Robert,
Yea and verily.

PS Have you had a political conversation with a conservative in the last 10 years without calling them a racist, liar or war monger?

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

I call 'em as I see 'em.

JIm said...

Robert, You call them, but never give an example of that heinous charge, which is dishonest. Oposition to a big government president. who happens to be 1/2 black, is not racist.

Robert G. Zuckerman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Robert G. Zuckerman said...

Not in and of itself, but sanctioning and turning the other cheek to similar, proportionally greater alleged offenses by pale-skinned Republicans while condemning our President, is by virtue of logical conclusion racist.

JIm said...

My logical conclusion is that you are an uninformed ignorant jerk.

AlamedaTom said...

Hey Lal. We skiers wish we could take some of your snow up in the Sierras. It snowed like a mother up there from before Thanksgiving through Christmas, but we have not had anything at all in January. Thus the skiing is now on a surface we call "Sierra cement." We need some of what you are getting.

~ Willy

Loyeen said...

Lally, Robert, and Jim,

I was very impressed with the positive direction our President is taking us. I am sooooo tired of the negative. Why we can't we just move forward? What happened to the American way? And I am not talking about repeating or quoting radio/or talk show hosts. I can actually think on my own without listening to someone reinforce their same ideas over and over again.

Loyeen

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

Our constitution upholds my right to be one and you to say I am. By the way, you forgot "gimp."

Lally said...

I hear ya Tom, my little guy's been spending some time on a small mountain up in the Berkshires snowboarding on an area of the mountain that's set up almost like a skateboard park, with rails and mini-jumps etc. Wish they'd had all that when we were kids! You'll have to come back for a visit brother.