How great is this mid-May blast of winter? OK, so it's not exactly winter, but I think it's supposed to be 49 degrees tomorrow morning and that's not exactly summer. I love it. There's nothing like a month or so of warm weather, even the delightful spring weather we have been having, to make me realize how much I truly love winter. Sometimes I get a glimpse of it on overcast rainy days- it's why I love them- when the AC is blasting, and it's cold inside, and it looks cold outside, and maybe someone is heating up some apple cider in the breakroom at work, and just for a second if you close your eyes, it's winter again. It was like that tonight. On the way home I listened to the book on tape that I finally remembered to put in my car (I think I checked it out from the library in March, thank goodness for online renewal.) It's the Breathing Method, by Stephen King. When I started listening to it I realized that I read it before, a long time ago. But that's OK. It's a whole different thing having it read to you. So the narrator is Frank Muller, who has this delicious rich voice, he kinda sounds like the guy on the Boars Head Ham commercial that they play at the holidays. Do you know that guy? I love him, he makes everything sound sooo good. I wish he was my personal narrator, following me around. "And then Melissa, although she was exhausted from her day at the firm, and the harrowing commute home, pulled off a gourmet meal in record time..." Anyway, so this Muller guy just has this great voice, and one of those accents that almost sounds British, but not quite. I'm driving and listening and I have my window cracked just a tad to let the cool air in. The story is set in December in NYC, and it's about these old men that have this club that meets once a week. They sit around a fireplace "big enough to roast an ox", sip brandy and wine and tell stories. So Muller is reading to me about the winter wind whipping down the streets as the character braces himself against the cold, and he's talking about the cold cutting through to the bone, and the snow, and the cab whipping through the city in the frigid night. And it makes me happy! I just don't understand when people don't love winter! Food tastes better. Pot roast, apple pie, chili. mmmmm Things smell better. Have you ever noticed how good cologne smells in the winter? Things are cozy. How great is that first day it's cool enough to wear jeans, or a sweatshirt? And boots. Oh, don't you just love boots? Fireplaces. Popcorn. Caramel apples. Coffee! Cuddling up with a book. Scary movies. Cuddling up with your other half. It's all better in the winter. At least it is for woo. :)