As I write we are awaiting the arrival of the 3rd weekend winter storm in three weeks. This one held off until Sunday, and is only forecast as 6-8 inches, but still! It is raining now, in Kennebunk, and has been for about 14 hours, but my weather app shows that we are just at the edge a small band of rain along the coast. This is snow falling a few miles inland.

This is a shot of the Mousam River behind Roger’s Pond, right after Nemo passed and left 29 inches of fresh snow behind. The Mousam here is rapid, and almost never gets ice bound. It was simply so overwhelmed with that amount of snow that the open channel was limited to the fastest water.

Canon SX50HS in Snow Mode. f5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. About 90mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness…with some extra attention to the highlights.

And for the Sunday Thought: I am getting old enough so that the part of me that looks forward to winter storms is well submerged…or at least well counterbalanced by the part of me that does not look forward to winter storms.

I will admit to a bit of a thrill, a tendency to check the weather radar to track the storm…and a bit of almost competitive interest in snow fall totals. I will admit to still feeling more than a bit of wonder and appreciation for its beauty when I face the landscape with its fresh blanket of snow. I can even revel in the raw energy of the storm, especially a good Nor’easter with the snow falling sideways and the wind loud in the trees.

But I no longer enjoy driving in such weather, and I certainly no longer enjoy shoveling out. I find the big mounds of dirty snow pushed up by plows and left to melt simply depressing. I am not a downhill skier, my cross country skis are stacked in seldom visited corner of the basement, and I have always been convinced that those who claim to actually enjoy snowshoeing are just working out some complex emotional issue.

So, on balance, the third winter storm in as many weekends does not fill me with joy.

And that is actually a little sad. There is a YouTube video going around of some young men just up the street from us who used the last two storms to produce a 15 foot tall snowman (search for Stanley the Snowman). Maybe I should go look at it…before the spiritual balance is forever tipped toward snow-dread and winter-phobia. Maybe I should keep a better hold on my winter wonder. I have a feeling that would be the healthy choice…unless I really am ready to move to Florida.

And of course, it is also a matter of faith. You can’t thank God for the weather when it suits you, and then blame God for the weather when it doesn’t. Not if you believe in a God who is love. If it is God blessing you with a sunny day…it must certainly be God blessing you with a snowy one. This might not stand to reason…but it certainly must be your stand in faith.

And as I write this sentence, the rain is definitely turning to snow outside the window…drops morphing into flakes…flakes drifting down at an angle…getting bigger as I watch. 6-8 inches is suddenly believable.

Yes, winter storm G is upon us. I guess it is up to me how I feel about it.