March 6, 2010

Today was a perfect Spring day.

It was mild, clear, lots of sun. Just the way it is supposed to be so close to Spring. It's funny that when we drove around on our appointed routes we could see snow on lawns, streets and mountains of it in parking lots.

But with temperatures around 50 degrees it is quickly disappearing.

As I already mentioned it, on Wednesday I went skiing. The place is about 150 miles north of New York City. I calculated that while they promised mild weather in the city, up where I went it should be real wintry.

Thankfully I was right. It seems that it snowed there since the middle of the previous week and they got about four-five feet of extra snow on top of what they already had.

It was gorgeous. It was winter wonderland at its best. The entire area was blanketed with fresh, clean snow. By area I mean as far as the eye could see from the top of the mountains.


Even from the road driving up there one could see humongous amounts on lawns and on roofs.

It was interesting that as I drove up almost until I reached the ski place it was either raining or it was a rainy mixture. But about ten minutes before reaching the place it suddenly became Shangri La: snow, snow and more snow.

Bottom line is that I had a great time and was totally exhausted by the end of the day.

It's a good thing that I love to drive, because the trip home was really pleasant. The speed limit on the New York State Thruway is 65 miles per hour. That means if one drives around 70-73 miles per hour it is kind of permissible. It's not too fast and not slow either and it makes the drive pretty pleasant.

On Public Radio there is a program on Saturdays called Car Talk. This is a call in show with a lot of items of interest all relating to cars.

On this show somebody once asked how much over the speed limit is permissible to drive. The unofficial answer to this was that between five to eight miles over the posted speed limit is O.K. to drive without being afraid of getting a ticket.

But people are funny. If it is kind of O.K. to drive at 73 miles per hour there is always somebody who will go at eighty or eighty-five. And there is never a police car around at that time.

I guess this year Punxsutawney Phil was right. After February 2 we had a lot of winter and they are not saying it is totally over.

Remember, March comes in like lamb and goes out like lion! (It could happen.)