Cars are not starting, my Hyundai’s engine is pleading to be wrapped in the fleece blanket I store in my trunk and claims to have a soft spot for hot chocolate. Fingers are numbing and turning rather odd hues of blue; my mitten has a hole in it, what good is that? Adolescents, adults, and the elderly are sniffling; flu season has erupted! Let’s all look to the culprit with crying eyes, pitiful faces, and shivering bodies. “Hello winter!”

Seventeen years in this ridiculously climatic state, and I still shiver. My skin has yet to thicken into tough leather, what happened to evolution? Whenever I have gone on trips and vacations and have met those who do not live in Maine, nor have ever visited Maine, I get questions like, “Is that wore the Eskimos live?” or “Do you have electricity and running water” I roll my eyes and answer, “Yes, we are civilized,” but with days and weeks like these last few, I am finding it hard to defend this fiscal state. All I can say now is, “We have running water, but our pipes are freezing and bursting. Umm. . . we have WHOOPIE PIES” (Too bud Whoopie pies are merely a Maine/New England thing, the rest of our fine nation is missing out on something delicious and life-changing.)

Maine is the one state where you can say, “Want the weather to change? Give it ten minutes!” Well weather- start changing!! The ground hog proclaims in shouts of joyous jubilee that spring will be coming early this year. Yet, do not get to hasty. It is still winter. It is not yet time for your flip-flops and Capri pants (pedal pushers, as my grandmother would say.) A lack of common sense leads to the high percentage of people with the common cold and influenza. Stay smart, folks, stay smart!

Invest in some hot chocolate, cappuccino, flavored coffee, some mittens (that do not have a hole in them like mine), a good book, and a fleece blanket; there is no need to go outside. And, if you do decide to brave the cold- dress warmly, dry your hair (the “icicle” has yet to be found on the top “100 New Hair-Do’s of the Season” list,) and start your car extra early (if it does start, that is) you will only be saving yourself!