02 January 23 Winter: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly Theme 5

Winter: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What do people who live in San Diego say about the weather in their January? February? The ten years that I lived there, my central memory of Winter in that city looked something like this: You are with friends and are lounging on a high, west-facing deck at sunset. You are sipping a glass of chardonnay. (Reds don’t suit the climate.) When the conversation pauses, someone is certain to raise a glass and say, “Ah . . . another day in paradise.” Seriously. That’s what they say alright. They certainly don’t use the term, “Dead of Winter.” 

That’s a term relegated to much higher latitudes where people of the Far North reside. That would be us, Dear Almanac Readers of the North. And you, especially if you live North of Bemidji. (Do remember there is a whole country farther north than we are. Roseau Minnesota’s coordinates are 48° 50' 46" N ... / 95° 45' 46"* (San Diego is at 32.7 latitude.) Still, I’m certain you have heard the Minnesotan’s attitude toward the coldest season: “Winter – It Makes Us Who We Are.” You guessed it; our fifth in the theme series is “Winter: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” 

In these parts, we certainly have had our taste of winter toward the end of 2022. In December, a whopper-and-a-half blizzard came barreling across the country, right on time for holiday travelers’ woes, waiting, and wailing. Have you by chance kept track over the years of the weather just prior to the December holidays. I have. Granted, it’s no scientific study. It’s probably my darker side at work. (Hmmm. . . Do I have another side?) Reminds me of the song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” In other words, wish for good holiday weather and the climate gods will surely send temps well-below zero, severe snowstorms, high winds to fluff up roads, and a relatively rapid end to the bad weather once holiday plans are challenged, if not cancelled altogether. Sound familiar, or is it just me?

That brings us back to the fifth in our series of themes: Winter: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Of course. Of course. I’ll begin with the “Bad.” However, do notice, I’ve already thrown this picture of rime ice into the wintry mix. How pretty is that!

Moving right along . . . a thousand points of twinkling lights . . .

Enjoy – sort of – the “Bad” aspect of the season we love to hate as we make our way through a few poems that are actually titled, “Dead of Winter!” 

The Dead of Winter

by Samuel Menashe

In my coat I sit

At the windowsill

Wintering with snow

That did not melt

It fell long ago

At night, by stealth

I was where I am

When the snow began

The Dead of Winter

by David Wood

The bitter cold air can be cut with a knife

Weighed down by a long cruel winter,

Sparrows and robins shiver away their life

While frozen twigs snap underfoot and splinter.

The early evenings damp mist swirls aloft.

The city streets, now empty and dark.

That cold night air, anything but soft,

Freezing everything frigid and stark.

A blustery icy cold wind slaps at your face,

A homeless man covered in yesterday news

Sleeps in a doorway about to lose life's race

Enters the long eternal dream, his final cruise.

As people walk on by, or simply look away.

He once had a home, a job and even a name.

But all that now gone as winter seeks its prey.

Yet, when all is said and done, who is to blame?

In the morning, the street will be swept clean

And a new bitterly cold damp day begins,

Where the wind will blow, hard and mean,

And life will continue, for all our sins.

In the dead of Winter

by John F McCullagh

A Marine has to deal with the end of his marriage, his failing health and his loneliness.

In the dead of Winter came

a dread that did not give its name.

A thought whose source would not disclose

the fear that all those living know.

In the dead of winter came

those short lived days we pass in vain.

Anger, short lived, but intense

at Love without its recompense.

In the Dead of winter came

a bitter cold without a name

Disease that would not run its course

The bitter pill of our divorce.

Drink is the doorway to despair

and yes, I sought some comfort there,

when human voices all went still

to warm me from the Winter chill.

Dead of Winter

by James Finnegan

Dead of winter

cold as ice

I’ve dug my grave

once or twice

Anywhere I go

fear can’t hide

beaten and dragged

along for the ride

Blood-stained sweat

from every pore

church bells ring

beyond death’s door

On borrowed time

fate has no cure

hands striking twelve

can’t run no more

Living it up

holding me down

my own worst enemy

is watching me drown

Dark veil begotten

night’s maiden breached

there’s nowhere left

the light can’t reach

The reaper whispers

a forgotten song

hope springs eternal

as I follow along

Exploration 1: Get poetic, Dear Readers. If you dare, write a haiku (5-7-5) about the “Dead of Winter.” Send it to catherineastenzel@gmail.com Your work will be posted during this series of poems on “the dead of winter.” Just say if you don’t want it shared online. A classic aspect of creating haiku is to mention or allude to a season. Here are a few “fivers” for the first or last line to get you started:

The last time I looked . . .

Winter flung her (his, our, its) hair . . .

The white pagoda . . .

Buried in whiteness . . .

Icicles hang upward . . .

Hanging from the wire . . .

Exploration 2: Define “the dead of winter” as you feel it.

Exploration 3: In your opinion, which poet or poets in this post or elsewhere best captures the essence of “the dead of winter.”

Background: 

Background: 

Answers to Why Do We Have to Put Up With Winter, From: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/ 

What Causes the Seasons?

The Short Answer:

Earth's tilted axis causes the seasons. Throughout the year, different parts of Earth receive the Sun's most direct rays. So, when the North Pole tilts toward the Sun, it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere. And when the South Pole tilts toward the Sun, it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

It's all about Earth's tilt!

Many people believe that Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and that is why it is hotter. And, likewise, they think Earth is farthest from the Sun in the winter.

Although this idea makes sense, it is incorrect.

It is true that Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle. It is a bit lop-sided. During part of the year, Earth is closer to the Sun than at other times. However, in the Northern Hemisphere, we are having winter when Earth is closest to the Sun and summer when it is farthest away! Compared with how far away the Sun is, this change in Earth's distance throughout the year does not make much difference to our weather.

There is a different reason for Earth's seasons.

Earth's axis is an imaginary pole going right through the center of Earth from "top" to "bottom." Earth spins around this pole, making one complete turn each day. That is why we have day and night, and why every part of Earth's surface gets some of each.

But what caused Earth to tilt?

Long, long ago, when Earth was young, it is thought that something big hit Earth and knocked it off-kilter. So instead of rotating with its axis straight up and down, it leans over a bit.

By the way, that big thing that hit Earth is called Theia. It also blasted a big hole in the surface. That big hit sent a huge amount of dust and rubble into orbit. Most scientists think that that rubble, in time, became our Moon.

As Earth orbits the Sun, its tilted axis always points in the same direction. So, throughout the year, different parts of Earth get the Sun’s direct rays.

Sometimes it is the North Pole tilting toward the Sun (around June) and sometimes it is the South Pole tilting toward the Sun (around December).

It is summer in June in the Northern Hemisphere because the Sun's rays hit that part of Earth more directly than at any other time of the year. It is winter in December in the Northern Hemisphere, because that is when it is the South Pole's turn to be tilted toward the Sun.

Earth's lopsided orbit

Earth's perihelion (point closest to Sun) = 91,400,000 miles from Sun

Earth's aphelion (point farthest from Sun) = 94,500,000 miles from Sun

While that is a difference of over 3 million miles, relative to the entire distance, it isn’t much.

And believe it or not, aphelion (when Earth is farthest from the Sun) occurs in July, and perihelion (when we are closest) occurs in January. For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere where it's summer in July and winter in January, that seems backwards, doesn't it? That just goes to prove that Earth's distance from the Sun is not the cause of the seasons.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, DEAR READERS!!