J-thaw

We are in the midst of what we used to call, in Minnesota, a J-thaw. Back in college, we used to love these week-long January thaws that came about once a year, when we would all unzip our coats as we walked across campus... feeling the warmth of the sun on our faces, even though it was still below 40 degrees... compared to how it had been for the past 2 months, that seemed positively balmy, and I truly remember feeling the warmth on my cheeks as surely as I now feel it that first warm week in April. Closing my eyes and turning my face skyward to feel the rays...

Now, I don't particularly like the J-thaws. For one thing, we get a whole lot more of them here. (We have a D-thaw, and a J-thaw, and an F-thaw. Sometimes more than one. And they last a long time. The end of this current one isn't in the forecast yet.) For another thing, we never know if we're going to get more snow after the thaw finally ends. Will we have to spend the next month and a half in the cold without the fun and prettiness of snow? When it's just brown and dirty and icky? Not cool.

Ah, well. For today there's still snow and I have prepare for my classes so I can take advantage of it (by Tuesday, I doubt I'll be able to!)