SoCS — Battling the Elements!
Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions
This post is part of Linda G Hill’s “Stream of Consciousness Saturday” — Come join in! It’s super fun!
Battling the elements — This week has been brutally cold. With a little snow, too. I had to go to work, which for me includes walking a half mile from the parking lot to my “office.” So “battling the elements” came to my mind when I saw the prompt.
Thursday morning, Denver hit a record low of -14F (that is -25C for my metric friends!) That is the coldest November temperature since 1880 ! On Wednesday, the high temperature was 6F (-14C) which was the coldest daytime high temperature ever recorded on Nov 12. Cars don’t like these temperatures. Airplanes don’t like them, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that pilots don’t like them! It was cold in Colorado. It was cold in Chicago, it was cold in South Dakota. It wasn’t too bad in Palm Springs, oddly enough 🙂 But all that aside, the absolute worst part for me was the walk from my car to the airport on Wednesday. Tonight it was downright balmy, only 28F (-2C). I almost forgot my scarf. Just kidding. Brrrr!
I have now focused my attention on trying to avoid all trips which go through Chicago and/or Denver during the month of December, in hopes of avoiding some of these “elemental” battles. Why these two only? Well, dear readers, when it comes to element-battling in the winter, Preparation and Planning are the key. Am I telling you that I consider these two airports to be poorly prepared and or planned? Would I advise avoiding them in the winter? Of course I would never say that “out loud.” But allow me to say instead that Denver seems to be under the impression that it lives in Florida during the winter and is therefore “surprised” when it snows. Chicago isn’t surprised, it just doesn’t care about silly things like being efficient. But then again, that “devil-may-care” attitude is just part of the Chicago charm…right? Riiiiight. On another note, I would like to congratulate our Canadian neighbors on their winter-preparedness-and-planning. I have never seen an aircraft de-icing operation which runs as smoothly as the one at the Toronto airport. It glides like it’s on skates, and for all I know, maybe they are. All I can say is, nobody deals with ice as well as Canada. And they are super polite, too. Thanks, Canada. Love you guys!
As much as I love to avoid Winter while I am at work, I will admit that I adore winter as seen from my window, sitting next to my fire, and sipping…well, any hot beverage can be inserted here, but top billing this year goes to…Nespresso!! (Bet you didn’t see that one coming 😉 ) After that, in order of deliciousness, goes Celestial Seasonings “Sweet Harvest Pumpkin” tea, Hot spiced apple cider from Whole Foods, and a nice dark hot chocolate. Actually, I adore the hot chocolate but abhor drinking calories. While having my hot beverage of choice, I like to be reading or writing. So the elements of a pleasant winter day off? Snow, hot beverage, fireplace, big sweater, cozy socks, lovely music, notebooks, pens, and books.
The other place I love Winter is in the kitchen. I love cooking, but especially those winter spices that make the whole house smell like Christmas. Gingerbread, Apple pies, Pumpkin pies, Cranberry sauce, Bizcochitos (the State cookie of New Mexico, for those of you who don’t know…delicious), Pork Green Chile, Red chili, Butternut squash soup, Beef stew…
So…how do you battle the elements? What is your favorite season? Is your city prepared for winter?
33 Responses to “SoCS — Battling the Elements!”
I love spring and summer, winter is my least favorite season. I live in Oregon so it’s probably because it’s usually dark and rainy here most days… And when it snows people are crazy here, no one knows how to drive in the snow, schools close for just a little bit of snow, we are not prepared for it at all. I like this post, it made me hungry 🙂 Looking forward to the holiday dinners with all of the family. I was wondering, what is Nespresso?
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Thanks for commenting! I love Oregon, it’s so green. Probably because of all the rain! Nespresso is a machine created by the Swiss company Nestlé which makes delightful espressos at home with their cute little capsules. It’s awesome.
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Yes, lots of rain here 🙂 Oh, I’ve seen those, they can make regular coffee too, right? There are different brands I think. I wouldn’t mind having one, maybe someday…
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They just came out with one that does both. I’ve seen them at Williams-Sonoma ☕️☕️
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Merci de penser à tes “métric friends” qui t’imaginent ( du moins, moi) dans ton avion, la bise soufflant sur la piste, les flocons de neige virevoltants…et les passagers grommelants!
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Merci pour tes commentaires, Agnès. J’apprends toujours des nouveaux mots! Je crois que tu es poétesse 🙂
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Je ne se quois. That is close to limit of my French. We don’t have real seasons here in Southern California. Cold weather is not my favorite. We usually don’t have much of a Fall. It is cooler. So I would say Spring is my favorite here because the temperatures are moderate and the leaves are coming back on the trees and it is sunny. That is before we get the June gloom. But we do need rain.
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Ahhh…SoCal. It’s always nice there. I must say I was surprised one year when I happened to be near LAX for Christmas Eve. It was 82F !
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I am UK based where a few flakes seem to send the country grinding to a halt!
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So…that romantic image I have in my head of the iconic British telephone booth covered in snow…it’s not real? So sad:-( I’d really like to go to England one day. I’ve read too many books about it!
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Some parts are very beautiful.
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Books set in England have always been among my favorites 🙂
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I hate cold weather but love cooking I the winter!
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For me it depends on the sort of day it is. I don’t mind the cold so much if there isn’t any wind! Thanks for reading 🙂
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I used to travel through Denver on the way home to California every week. I spent a lot of cold Friday nights in the airport. Good post.
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Ewwww. DIA is not my favorite place to hang out, that’s for sure. I hope you had a Red Carpet Club membership! Thanks for reading.
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Thanks for the airport warnings! My battling the elements much prefer your kitchen and your Nespresso by your window. Good read!
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Thanks for reading and for following!
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Oooh, good to know! I’m traveling out of and into Toronto’s Pearson International in three weeks. We haven’t seen any snow up here yet…
I would think O’Hare (isn’t it the biggest hub in North America?) would be better strategically equipped.
Love hot chocolate, hate snow. 😛
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Toronto airport rocks. Yeah, you’d think O’Hare would be better, (it’s actually second biggest next to Atlanta) but it’s not. The O’Hare Air Traffic Controllers are the best in the country, but while you’re on the ground, that’s a different story!
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I hadn’t thought of “battling the elements.” Life grinds to a half with a few flakes here in NC — I’ve never flown in winter, so I can’t say how well our airport handles snow. Fun use of the prompt!
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I’ve only ever been to the Asheville airport, but I haven’t seen snow there, just rain. Lots and lots of rain. So I’m not sure how they do snow, either! Best to stay in, I think 😉 Thanks for reading!
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halt, not half. Je suis désolée.
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Ce n’est pas grave 🙂
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I moved out of Chicago 27 years ago, and don’t miss it, especially the snow and the cavalier attitude they take toward it. They are famous for plowing the main streets and dumping the snow on the side streets, where everyone actually lives.
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Really??? That’s horrible! I’ve never really visited Chicago “proper”, just O’Hare, and I figured that wasn’t it’s best side…
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I enjoyed the imagery here. Polite Canadians and gingerbread. Maybe I’ll go to Canada in the summertime though. My husband lived most of his life in New England plowing and shoveling snow. He says he had to get creative to figure out where to put the snow. Now that he’s moved south to be with me, he hates the cold, so we visit his mother in the summer.
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Hey there! I just nominated you for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Feel free to accept or ignore! 🙂
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Thanks for the nomination! Just knowing you find my blog worthy is reward enough 🙂
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Haha, I loved your comments on Denver and Chicago airports. London as a city is the same. It seems to think it lives in a warm place where it never ever snows and where it never rains too much. And then when it does snow the whole city comes to a stand still (I kid you not. It’s not that frequent but it happens often enough), or when it rains too much the tube / subway also comes to a standstill.
That’s mental that it’s so cold where you are, made me feel cold just thinking about it! It doesn’t really get cold out in HK, but then there’s no heating, so even if it’s only 14C, it feels much colder because you have to keep your coat on indoors! Lucky it only lasts for a couple of months.
Good luck with this winter, you’re off to a cold start!
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Luckily its a bit warmer this week 🙂
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I love the silence snow brings. Here in the north of England we don’t manage the extremes too badly, I suppose, but I’d rather be watching snow ploughs than following them. Just lately the ‘authorities’ here have begun closing whole sections of road down at the slightest provocation and simply leaving motorists to freeze. We are remarkably inconsiderate of old people’s needs at this season of the year and I wish sometimes for a regeneration of ‘street spirit’, which does not seem to happen now.
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It is terrible to read about elderly folks suffering temperature extremes. Sadly it happens everywhere 😦
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