Off day

It's a pretty dreary Monday. As winter days go, it's insufferable. The only good thing is that it's also Presidents Day, which means I get the day off. Also, it's not Blue Monday, which, if you believe the "research," is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year, statistically. Blue Monday this year fell on January 21. I went back to look at what I'd written in this blog on January 21; it wasn't exactly puppies and bunnies and sugar-sweet sunshine.

Powdered

Finally! 53 days into winter, New York is experiencing a good powdering. It doesn't look like it's going to last (the temperature is going up tomorrow, bringing rain), so I won't be able to do everything on my list of five favorite things to do when it snows. But it's okay. It was just nice to be able to walk outside, even if the snow is coming down really hard and the snowflakes are, much like a kiss from Angelina Jolie, big, wet and nasty. The great thing about New York when it snows is how quiet it is. Cars drive slower, there are fewer people out on the street, and all that snow smooths out the rough, echo-y edges of the sidewalks and buildings.

[The photos below and above were taken from my office in SoHo.]

No white

I'm unhappy to report that it hasn't snowed much this winter, though it usually doesn't in this part of the country until late January and February anyway. I didn't grow up in a snowy climate (unless you count the dandruff I had in 9th grade), and I still remember the first time I ever saw snow fall from the sky: on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, in November 1996, my first winter in America. Snow still holds a degree of romantic allure for me, even though it usually piles up in muddy slush heaps after a couple of days, and is apt to cause car accidents and slip injuries. Here, in anticipation of New York's first big snowfall (whenever that may be), are my five favorite things to do when it snows:

5. Go jogging. I kid you not. I love running in the snow, because every footfall sounds soft, like running in a cloud.
4. Sledding. I've been skiing (downhill and cross-country), and I once ice-skated on a frozen lake with a girl I really liked, but sledding is better because it's simple and fun. You don't need any special equipment, either; in college, my friends would smuggle dinner trays out of the dining hall for sledding.
3. Play a team sport. The other day, our soccer league canceled our games because snow and sleet were expected in the region. That doesn't make any sense. Soccer and football are even better in the snow.
2. Be indoors. Counter-intuitive, but fun. The best is when you wake up on a Saturday or holiday, look out your window, and see the world being nestled in beds of white powder. Then you make yourself a mug of hot chocolate, drink it, then go back to sleep. But the single greatest thing to do in the snow is...
1. Snowball fight. With as many friends as possible.