There is nothing quite so tender as the sight of a grey, ice-locked landscape melting into warm browns during a winter respite. I am struck by the beauty of it all this morning, and deeply thankful I live in a climate with strongly definable seasons (despite the slipping and sliding we have done over the last three weeks). We are able to experience the thrill of welcoming 40F (5C) as if it is an old friend we had forgotten we loved – knowing she will leave again before the spring comes.
Meanwhile, on news channels, from the middle of the road, to the far-left to the far-right – all can agree that the next Winter Storm [insert name] is the worst in X years, and will catastrophically affect every creature unfortunate enough to live in a climate north of the equator.
It is to their credit that they at least spare us the daily weather concerns of the southern hemisphere.
Everyone’s news. All the time.
It does not matter if you live 3000 miles away in the Pacific Northwest – or if you access the internet from a little cottage in Guernsey. You will still know of this storm, you will still be frightened by it, what it could mean, what it portends for mankind and the future of us all.
It will add to your vague life-unease as you are regaled with weather records by sculpted talking heads and chests that gravely state “coldest temperature in [insert current month] since [insert date in last twenty years]” and which expect us all to quiver and shake against the terror of it all. And click again for more terror.
Enough. I am sick to the teeth of it.
What is the purpose?
Ask yourself that. To keep us in a constant sense of unease? Our nerves are already strung to breaking point, our daily lives disrupted, our friendships and communities frayed and battered by a lack of face-to-face contact.
We are fragile, and searching for stability. We are unsure. We are unsure of each other. An email from a dear, always optimistic friend in Wales yesterday after many months silent says “It has all been so mad for the last 2 years, and I wonder if I will have any friends left when we finally are free to do what we want, when we want to. All the negotiations about people’s fears, and rules of connection, and yap about it, have driven me to nearly losing my sense of humour.”
Should this scene concern me? Comfort me? Is it the right week of the year? Is it the right kind of snow? Tell me what to think.
Yet we must be frightened…made more vulnerable and unsure. After all, frightened people are hungry for more news [read: they click more]. Those that believe in global conspiracies forget that news organizations act first for ratings. That the telling of the story – whether political or meteorological – may be detrimental to the long term mental health of its audience is of little concern when ratings are paramount.
Just. Report. The. Damn. Weather.
Temperature, precipitation, visibility – add 50 words of puerile commentary if you must. Is a tornado in my vicinity? Thank you for telling me – we’ll do all we can. Is a hurricane expected? Give us a category and projected path. Flash flooding? I’m thankful for the heads up. It’s a damn sight more than farmers and gardeners had 150 years ago living lives much closer to the bone than we. Without electricity.
This works for me. Short and to the point. When a winter weather advisory is forecast, I’ll see it.
Things were [always] better when…
I live in a climate that expects winter. Or at least we used to. I moved here 20 years ago knowing that. I regularly hear Mid-Atlantic natives reminiscing that in the old days they were always sledding in the winter and there were ice floes on the Potomac, and they would skate with friends until their mothers caught them.
If there were ice floes on the Potomac, then I can guarantee that it was freaking cold.
That we’d probably had a storm. Perhaps several. That it had cut off roads, and caused accidents and created chaos. Some people may have lost their lives. And that’s winter. It’s why billions of people living in cold climates have dreaded it for thousands of years. It’s why they got stores in, and kept pantries, and gulped deeply when the harvest didn’t come in as expected.
It’s why they greeted spring with such deep and overwhelming joy. It’s why there were May Poles.
If you have never read the poet Robert Frost, I urge you to remember or experience winter through his words. Every gardener living in a cold winter climate should have some paperback Frost collection laying within arm’s reach in the morning.
Gently step away from the device filled with infinite scrolling feeds by CNN, FOX, MSNBC, Facebook, The Daily Mail, The NYT, The New York Post, et bloody al. and find one of his poems written in winter. Take some time to absorb that which does not need to be said to be understood.
Frost did not pen “Man and Horse Desperate for Shelter Travel for Hours in Deep Drifts, Miles From Help”
Winter is hard. Winter is also beautiful. We must both bear it and be blessed by it.
Trying to Play Both Sides of the Fence
Cause, here’s the thing. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t complain that we don’t have real winters anymore and then lose your shit when a storm dumps 18 inches in 24 hours. In summer, when they’re telling us that we’re about to experience a horrific, historical and deadly heat wave that will best all heat waves and all records (even if it is only by a tenth of a percent) and that life is over, they can’t ignore two years of long cool springs that make the spirit sing.
Yes, the climate is changing. Some seasons it does so with a slap, some seasons with a tickle. Many of us are scrambling to keep pace with the change and adapt our gardening practices and life choices. Some of us have experienced some degree of devastation brought on by weather events, and we have been laid low, and we have stood up again. But the more we allow ourselves to be assailed with unrelenting fear-porn – the more the weather is reported by terrified children and not mature adults – the more we feel helpless and lost in a constant state of anxiety.
Fearful people no longer believe in the human spirit to adapt, innovate, overcome, and grow.
Lose the fear porn. It’s winter. Let’s treat it like the adults we are. – MW
Thank you. Just stepped in from shovelling the drive way in the middle of the next “big” storm. It is good enough to make a snow man in the garden, wishing the grands were closer so they could help. What ever would happen if we all put the cursed devices down for a whole week and checked on a neighbor or watched the chickadees acrobats at the feeder. Bet the whole world would still be there in a week. We call it the “fear this” generation. We can’t make them stop but we can turn them off! Thanks for the rant.
I LOVE this! Here in Maine we’ve had such wacky winters. It seems as if the seasons have shifted about 3 weeks with winter coming later and then, of course, spring too. But what else can one do but adapt? We complain but not seriously and wait a minute because the weather will change. I abhor all that clap about bombogenesis and naming winter storms. It’s snow for Pete sake! Get over it or go jump into it, it might be fun. Only those who have to travel a lot should pay attention to every nuance of weather forecasting. And then be prepared by having emergency supplies in your vehicle. Oy! It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.
I do love looking at our winter landscape. We have yellow-stem and red-stem dogwoods next to and in front of conifers. When the light hits them just right, it all glows. With snow around, it’s even better, especially without all the hype. Thanks for this, it needs to be shouted from the rooftops of the news feeds.
I hear you. Grew up in Northern Illinois in three feet of snow and 20 below. But in my dotage, having lovingly filled our once bare eight acres with a flowing landscape of exotic trees, to watch them come down in an ice storm – now living that talking head prediction – is almost like losing a child.
The way it goes? Sure. But…
Maine is on my road trip list for this summer Kris. I’ve heard too many good things not to get myself up there after 20 years in the Mid-Atlantic. But perhaps I will be forgiven for waiting until summer? – MW
That’s okay, that’s when most of the “people from away” come to visit. If you want to see a hodge-podge place, come to mine in Pittston. Just give me a week’s notice so I can at least mow the lawn…
Laura also in Maine- Mid Coast Maine.
Great article.
So much to see here MW you will have to visit more than once. One of my many favorite times of year, besides winter, is June and the Lupines blooming everywhere.
What a coincidence. I was just thinking some of this recently. Why does every nightly national newscast now have a weather report about the millions of Americans affected? I also live in the Mid-Atlantic and do I really care about a snowstorm in the Midwest or the Northeast? Not really. Even my local news went on for 20 minutes about the different weather models and the conclusion was that they couldn’t tell us how many inches of snow we would get, which turned out to be only about three. And that snow was absolutely beautiful!
Oh My! Another good Marianne-o-Gram!
I’d like to offer so many compliments that it would make your mother blush. But I won’t. I will say, however, you missed commenting on the broadcast media interrupting shows with special bulletins showing a brave tobaggoned reporter pointing to indiviual snowflakes as they fall. Edrward R. Murrow would be so proud.
And, kudos for using the unvarnished technical term: “Lose your shit”. Sometimes, the more polite phrase just fals short.
Gardeners tend to track the weather closely and, most often, have learned to accept, with equanimity, what Mother Nature throws at us. That Bitch.
Thanks John. At times the [vulgar] vernacular gets the point across cleanly. Normally it’s Scott that brings it out in me. – MW
Thank you for your rant. I completely agree with the disgust of the entertainment that is now called our news.
Your pictures of your garden are beautiful. While I dislike the cold (it hurts me), the stark beauty of white snow and black trees is restful and the mantle of silence during a heavy snow fall is so peaceful. It pulls me to my Creator.
I don’t particularly LIKE winter, but I love daffodils and lilacs and stone fruit and apples and all the other things that need the cold to thrive. Winter makes us appreciate spring oh so much more and in that appreciation, hopefully we help each other stand back up when we get knocked down rather than cower in fear. <3
I also enjoy your rants and your letter exchanges with Mr. Scott are hilarious! 🙂 Keep on ranting!
Yet ANOTHER on point Rant, Marianne!
I read it several minutes ago and I’m still smiling.
Thank you so much!
I really enjoyed this Rant. We need a little perspective.
After years of a 70 mile round trip commute (and putting chains on a Z-28 Camaro in the blizzard year of ‘78/79 to get to the hospital), I find I’m not too phased by the weather reports.
I’m pleased to not have to commute any more (retired), but I would just get in with it.
Currently reading your ‘Tropical Plants…’ book (it just came this week) and watching the local weather. It’s like a soap opera.
Thanks Margaret. Re: Soap opera — I hope you’re referring to the local weather and not the book…. – MW
Definitely, the weather-pocalypse.
Really enjoying the book – some old friends in there, including a 40+ year old dwarf dare palm (her pot is on rollers(!) to go in and out)
You are absolutely on the money with this, MW! So much of our “news” (it seems on both sides of the Atlantic) is sensationalism. But I guess the headline “Britain Braced for Entirely Normal Winter Weather” doesn’t generate many clicks…
Bravo Marianne!
Love this! Although I grouse about the MN cold, and then about the heat, it’s just weather. I almost never watch television, and get any news I want to see in small doses. Turn it off, everyone! We’ll almost all be happier (except maybe the talking head’s employers, bless their greedy hearts.)
Just joined Garden Rant and my first reading. First, your photos are beautiful and depict the absolute beauty of winter. I grew up in no. Indiana. We dealt with harsh winters, including having to walk home from school sometimes through 2 feet of snow because our mother couldn’t get out in our Studebaker. Yeah, what are we gonna do about the idiot TV stations and their weather forecasters? When they interrupt a great TV show for waaay too long, i wanna reach through the screen. We can pass on our fearlessness to our kids and grandkids. Not sure how to cure the cellphone overload tho.
Welcome Aboard, Mary. I enjoy the Comments easily as much as most rants.
Mary let me join Diane in Icy Colorado in welcoming you to the Rant. And I completely agree, often the comments (and subsequent reader discussions) can be as compelling as the Rants themselves. Keep passing on that fearlessness and opportunities for a slower pace of life to the next generation! – MW
So true! Stated what many of us are thinking. Do you think that Weathermen feel this might be a time to justify their salary? lovely pictures!
I really enjoyed reading this while a pot of soup simmers on the stove. I relish our 4 seasons, since these very cold days that barely hover above 0° give this gardener a rest. Birdwatching out the window after receiving 5” of snow is so much more relaxing than what all those talking heads have to offer.
“What they said…” This post was perfect for this season and especially today. 12 deg F in mid-afternoon now, woke up to 1 deg. The sun’s out, the snow crystals are gleaming, the house is warm, 30 houseplants are flourishing. “Who could ask for anything more?”
Great job here, Marianne.
Good rant, Marianne.
I am so tired of click bait news and discovered 1440 2-3 weeks ago. I like it. Just the news … although not quite Uncle Walter.
Following is an article about 1440 if you haven’t tried them. No fees.
They don’t “do” weather yet but you may be able to convince them.
Vickie Wenzel
https://www.thecoolist.com/1440-news/
THANK YOU Vickie – Got my first digest today and could almost hear the ghost of Cronkite reading the copy. Looking forward to the temperature going down round here early in the morning…. – MW
AAAMEN!!!
I like my weather people preparing me for the tornadoes or ice storms about to roll through Dallas, but I do wish they could do it in a way that doesn’t make people strip the grocery store to bare shelves because they might have to be housebound for 2 days.
Funny. I was recently chatting with some relatives who live in Los Angeles and when asked if I’d miss winter if I lived there my answer was a vehement NO! Wouldn’t miss the cold, snow, or ice and would LOVE to garden all year long and swim outdoors most of the year. Sign me up!
I hate the cold too – even as I recognize the beauty in the season. Absolutely hate it. But the winter season on this property is a chance to recoup and take care of jobs like brush clearing that are so much easier without the relentless drive of the growing season. When I go down to Florida and see the constant growing season (though crops vary), it exhausts me just thinking about it. However, I wouldn’t rule out a MUCH smaller garden in a climate like that. – MW
Speaking of weather guys/gals interrupting TV shows for a forecast: Ryan Hanrahan, an NBC Connecticut forecaster, incurred the wrath of thousands when he interrupted the much-loved “Dick in a Box” skit on SNL’s Christmas sketch show last year or so. He was burned on social media (FB, etc.) until he wrote a comment of apology. I must agree with the commenter here who also thinks naming every single damn “snow event” as “Winter Storm Fill in the Blank” is ridiculous. Whether we’re talking snow in the winter or heat waves in the summer, I finally realized that I was whipping myself up into a lather, checking the weather too frequently, and far too in advance for them to even know what was really going to happen. I refuse to get sucked into the panic.
Thanks for the pretty pictures of winter in the garden!
I live in NC and the thing we joke about–but also have to take very seriously–is just how bad we are at driving on snow or ice. Like, three inches of snow? There was an actual semi truck hanging off an overpass on 147. WHAT. I would like the news to talk more about the real danger: our driving! Cut to cute shots of kids making snow men. Perfect.
I don’t watch the news, I just listen to NPR. My solution.
I agree – some climates are simply not prepared for ice, and need to be warned of ice storms – but even that can be straightforward. ie. “We’re expecting 1/2 inch of ice tonight in this region, and just a reminder fellow NCers – you’re not qualilfied to drive on it.” lol.
As an aside, my husband and I grew up in an area with serious snowfall every year – got very used to driving on it and were therefore quite contemptuous when we came out here and saw the state shutting down when a winter storm was forecast. Until we experienced our first ice storm. We have since ashamedly exchanged our contempt for respect. Sure is beautiful the day after though. – MW
When looking back on the year, there are bouts of extreme weather that stand out in our minds
Yep, excited to see “Many parts of Britain will feel colder than Russia today, forecasters have warned.” Then look out the window to see lovely springlike sunshine and it’s WARM.
Snow. Ok. Freezing rain. No. Which is what we had last few days.
Doesn’t sound like anyone here is a public entity snow plower,or knows any. Not much you can do about ice on roads and some people still have to go to work. i remember my husband telling me he would have to back UP curvey hilly roads to spread salt, cause he would have slid down. And working 16 hour shifts. Now that he’s retired he likes watching the doom and gloom storm reports because he only has to do our own drive!
HUGE respect for the crews that plow. HUGE. I’ll never forget the poor young guy who came down our 2 mile gravel road after 6 days locked in with three feet of snow. By the time you get to our place when there’s that much snow you might as well be steering through the woods, as finding the actual road. Went up to show him the way as he thought our driveway must be the road and Mike had the unenviable task of telling him he needed to go deeper into the dark woods. Terror written all over his face driving this massive thing the size of a semi. But he did it. He also took out our gate and mailbox, but hey, at least we didn’t need snowshoes to get out. Love those guys. – MW
I have only three concerns/questions every time I hear the word “snow” in the forecast:
(1) Will the power go out (overhead utility lines are the norm where I live, thus vulnerable to falling limbs) and if so, for how long?
(2) Will my son be able to come over with his snowblower and thereby clear my driveway and front walk?
If the answer to #2 is Yes, I don’t worry about what the media says . Unfortunately, the “yes” answer has had only a 25% occurrence during the past four winters, which prompts concern 2a:
(2a) Will I at least be able to shovel a shoulder-wide emergency pathway from my garage door to the street… just in case… without either putting my back out or experiencing a heart attack?
(3) Did I remember to truss up all the fastigiate dwarf conifers so that they don’t end up with splayed or broken branches from the weight of heavy wet snow?
As for any snow-related media natterings, I have adapted Keats’ advice at the end of “Ode on a Grecian Urn”: that the above answers are “all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know”!
Too bad this blog is LOADED with ads/spam…such a distraction I could not read the blog itself. Why not pay the extra money for NO ADS? An annual fee, yes, but so worth it.
Kristen, I began to comment on this here, but found I had way too much to say about it. Going to save those thoughts for a future post, which should answer your question. I hope you may stay with us long enough to be distracted by it. – MW
There is no need to see any ads on this blog (I never have, nor on any other website) if you are willing use any of several available (and free) browser add-ons to prevent it. Simply adding a script blocker such as UMatrix will block them. Script blockers such as this are customizable for each site. Using one of these, along with disabling pop-ups in your browser settings, will eliminate ads.
As I look at this post right now, this is what I see: The Garden Rant site banner: the text and images of Marianne’s post: a right-hand sidebar with Marianne’s author image, a simple Subscribe-To dialog box, a list of Voices with thumbnail images of other bloggers, a selection of Recent Rants, an Archive by Month field, and a Topics dropdown, the Comments section, and the green Garden Rant footer. EVERYTHING else on this page is a plain white background. No ads, no spam, no distractions whatsoever. There is no need for anyone to see ads on a website if they don’t want to. Why don’t most people realize this? (and I guess that is MY rant, lol)
Using ad blockers is like downloading music illegally or using any other hack that takes income from creators.
I respectfully disagree, Susan. Unless I am misunderstanding the construction of GardenRant, this is a “host venue” site, meaning that any click-income generated by ads ends up in the pocket of whatever entity owns GardenRant – not in the pockets of the individual posters, unless the GardenRant site pays Marianne or other posters for the use of their content. The GardenRant SITE is not the creator of Marianne’s post. Therefore, if I choose not to see ads that GardenRant puts on the same page as Marianne’s post, I am not depriving Marianne of any income.
If the structure of GardenRant is not as I have just described it, please enlighten me. But if it is, then I am not depriving Marianne or any other author here of any revenue by not seeing whatever advertising that the GardenRant site chooses to clutter up her posts with.
I am the creator of two blog sites (one personal and one educational), both of which are hosted on WordPress dot com. I had a choice of whether to have a free account for each (in which case, people without ad blockers would see whatever ads WordPress chose to put on my pages) or to pay $48/year for the upgraded tier on which WordPress does NOT place any ads. Because I have no interest in getting income from my blogs, and I think ads are intrusive, I pay that $96/yr which comes out to $8/month. And frankly, if my financial situation were to ever be so bad that I couldn’t afford to pay extra $8/mo to avoid inflicting ads on my readers, I wouldn’t be able to afford internet access either.
Yeah, GardenRant’s setup is different, and I’m happy to explain.
The ads are by Mediavine, which Marianne will explain in a different post but bottom line, the income comes directly to us, the regular authors of GardenRant (though not the guests). We pay more than you do to our host for an ad-free service, and we pay another $50/month to have our feed to subscribers be ad-free (payment to Feedblitz). Mediavine’s ads are how we pay our bills and pay ourselves, the Rant partners, a bit for our time and effort.
Thanks for explaining that; I didn’t realize that GardenRant is run a partnership of authors rather than being a moderated hosting venue. So in other words, your actual web host gets paid by you to not put THEIR ads on GardenRant, and you utilize that freed-up space to have your chosen advertiser, Mediavine, place their ads (which generate income for you) there instead.
That said (and this may be more directed to a future post by Marianne than this detour here), I would respectfully state that people who use ad blockers do so for any or all of three reasons: (a) to protect their privacy, because many ads do contain trackers, if not outright malware; (b) to enable their browser to load pages faster and with fewer issues; and (c) to be able to focus effectively on the content which was the reason for them choosing that page in the first place. To equate us with intellectual-property thieves (which is what those who download music or video content illegally are), is…rather harsh. If choosing to have the most secure and effective and enjoyable means of browsing the Web equates me with a “criminal” in some eyes , well, I don’t know what to say except that I won’t be inclined to view that site at all anymore.
Honestly, I’m flattered that you thought we all wrote for a separate “Garden Rant entity.” That’s got to say something positive about the professional look of the site. Which (ironically) brings us back to the big reason we rely on ads. I’ll go into more of this in a subsequent post – there is much to say on the subject. – MW
Hopefully then the ads are also tailored to your international readers, who will be able to easily source product in their countries of origin, and/or advertisers are also able to ship affordably overseas. Let alone not run afoul of customs regulations. If we are not their target demographic, then please excuse us for filtering out the ads.
Marianne; I couldn’t agree more! “Just. Report. The. …Weather.” indeed. My pet peeve is that about 3-4 years ago, NBC and others suddenly developed maps where they can identify population numbers by drawing a circle; now every day I get to hear about the 24 million….56 million….156 million people affected by this or that storm or fleeting drizzle. Enough already.
This is one of the problems with this new weather narrative – thousands of those millions tune out, and when they truly need to be informed – when there is truly an emergency – there’s a good chance they may just ignore it as part of the endless noise. – MW
Thank you. This was on point. I firmly believe, you state, fear porn’ is the objective of any and all so-called “news” and most advertising.