Blogroll

Snowmen: The Brussels “Miracle of 1511”

Starting with Gene Autry’s recording of the song “Frosty the Snowman” in 1950, Frosty developed into a pervasive symbol of snowmen in America. Snowmen, though, have a much longer and more noteworthy history.

According to Bob Eckstein, author of The History of the Snowman, the first image of a snowman appears in marginalia in a […]

The annual question

Some things have never changed in my nearly 60 years in South Dakota. One is the question that pops up When winter’s cold arrives each year. “Why in the hell do I live here?” In fact, when I think about it, it comes to mind any number of times between November and April.

Don’t get […]

How I prepare for winter

Maybe it’s an unconscious mental reaction to the days getting shorter. Maybe it’s like squirrels gathering nuts. Or maybe it’s just a bibliophile’s version of binge eating. Whatever it is, I’ve been on a bender buying books preparing for winter.

Here’s a glimpse of just the last three weeks. I checked out 10 books from […]

Lacking inspiration — or creativity

I blame it on February. For as short as it is, it still reminds you not only that it’s winter but that spring just might be out there. Case in point is that when I went to the state capitol last week, it had a record high temp (61). Sunday, it set a record for […]

Ho ho ho! Let it friggin’ snow

Although a lifelong South Dakota resident, I still have issues (George Carlin might call them “major psychotic episodes”) when it comes to winter. Put simply: I hate it. But I’m actually kind of looking forward to the big snow storm the harbingers of doom TV weathermen are forecasting (“the strongest storm in years”!) starting tomorrow […]