If I had to pick my favorite seasons it would be summer, of course. And fall! Living in Western New York, our winters are agonizingly long. Not that we have snow the entire season, but does it have to be cold for such a long time? November is cold, December is cold, and we start getting snowstorms off the lake. Oh yes, we have had snow in late October, but that is rare. The first snowfall doesn’t usually come until late November. Around Thanksgiving. It’s usually a light dusting and disappears within a day or so. My birthday is in the beginning of December, and I can guarantee there will be snow. Fast forward to January. Seems unfair that we can’t fast forward the months we don’t like, but I digress. January is cold and snowy. Come February it’s cold and guess what? There’s snow. Sigh. Those are the worst months. After that the snow eases up a little and March and April give us hints of spring around the corner. Which corner I’d like to know because it’s still COLD outside. You may think our blood has thickened because of the cold weather, so March and April should feel wonderful. That’s true and here’s the thing, us Western New Yorkers, are a hardy bunch and come the beginning of April you will see girls in shorts and flip-flops and the guys are just as hardy. I’ve even seen some guys wearing shorts all winter long. But it’s still COLD! And don’t get me started on the end of Daylight Savings Time. Yes, we get an hour extra in the evening, but it gets dark so soon and it’s cold!

So, here’s my plan. How about two seasons? Fall and summer, with a little snow the week of Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy living in this area. Yes, I could move where it’s milder for the winter months. Here’s the problem with that, I could never stand the heat in Florida. Floridians stay in their air-conditioned houses in the summer because of the heat so it’s a tradeoff. Stay inside in the winter up here or inside in the summer down there. I’m not a winter sports person so inside in those months is the better choice in my book. I’m hesitant about living in any area of the U.S. that has forest fires, floods, earthquakes, tornados or hurricanes. If it’s blizzardly here, I just stay inside. My house isn’t going to float away nor is it going to be picked up and dumped who knows where, like Dorothy’s was.

I guess when all is said and done, I don’t really hate where I live. It’s time for me to pull out those cozy sweaters, hats and scarves. Because I know the snow and cold is coming, and I’m ready for some hot chocolate or my favorite wine in front of the fire pit. Like we Western New Yorkers always say, “You don’t the weather? Wait a few minutes, it’ll change.”