An Appreciation for Apricity (6/30)

The aftermath of Winter Storm Hercules in Gloucester

     Three years ago I read the book Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,370 Pages by  Ammon Shea. It's an excellent book that I fully recommend. Shea creatively and humorously tracks his journey of reading through the massive Oxford English Dictionary by focusing on a different letter or two each chapter, and describing what was happening in his life as he tackled that section of the OED. I really loved that Shea began each chapter by highlighting some of his favorite words of the chapter's letter because it introduced me to so many words I'd never heard before. Some words were funny, some should be used more, and some were quite lovely. "Apricity," which means the "warmth of the sun in the winter," fits into the latter two categories for sure. I think the definition and the word are both beautiful, and in the years since I read Reading the OED, my family and I have started using it when we can.  In fact, it was my brother-in-law who recently reminded me of the word and inspired its use in the title of this post. This winter I've had the chance to gain a greater appreciation of the word.

     The cold weather has been full of learning opportunities and new experiences as I adjust to life in New England. First, I got to learn how what to do during a snow ban during the couple of snow storms in December (including one on the day I flew home for Christmas). When I returned after Christmas, I spent a chilly New Years Day in Boston, hitting some favorite spots with friends before going for a walk on the frozen pond of the Boston Public Gardens. As I'd never walked on a frozen pond before, I was pretty excited.  There were even ice sculptures and sparkling lights around the pond.It was magical. The only thing that could have made it better is some snow. We didn't have to wait too long for that though. 
     The very next day Winter Storm Hercules arrived. That night brought about 1 1/2 ft of snow to the Salem area so I woke up to a world of white. Luckily for me, I didn't have to work the next day and school hadn't started yet, so I spent the morning bundled up with some hot cocoa. In the afternoon I got some excellent experience in shoveling out my car, as well as some good practice driving on snow. In retrospect, driving all the way to Gloucester when the roads still weren't totally cleared was probably not my smartest idea, but I had a lovely time with friends, despite the white knuckle driving and a bit of a mad dash to get gas before the stations closed. I've learned that my car seems able to predict snow storms because they always seem to arrive when my gas tank is almost empty. I'm still working on remembering that when I get the "winter storm alert" on my phone, it means that it would be a good idea to get gas and groceries now... and not the day of the snow storm. After Hercules had a bit of a reprieve before Winter Storm Janus arrived. I even got to spend an evening snowboarding with friends before classes resumed on the 13^th. Unfortunately, Janus cut short my plans for another snowboarding trip just over a week later. That was probably for the best as exams started early this term and I needed to get some studying done.

This sums up a thought I've had many times living in MA.

         It was definitely a bit easier to convince myself to study when it was so cold outside. No one wanted to go outside then. I’d say it was freezing, but really it was below freezing for days on end. When I did my undergrad at Gordon I experienced these sorts of temperatures as well, but I lived on campus and really didn't have to walk too far to get to classes. Now though, I walk one mile when I go to work (unless it’s really bad weather and I decide to pay for parking), and every weekday I walk just under a mile to the train to commute to school. I now understand why people wear ski masks even when they’re not skiing, and on bad wind days I've even had moments of jealousy towards the bearded fellows I see. It’s not fair that they've got a built in wind protector. It really is the wind that’s the worst part too. 14° with no wind chill feels vastly different from 14° with. I've been taking screenshots of some of the recent weather reports I've had on my way to school, and when you compare the stated temperature with the “RealFeel®” temperature, you can see the difference the wind makes. It can be brutal. It might not be as bad as the weather and wind the poor people of Chicago and the Midwest have been having (I’m suddenly rather glad I decided against going to a school there), but worrying about frost nip after a quick walk outside is cold enough for me. The exclamation mark in some of the photos is because my phone thought I should know that the weather was concerning. The bottom left is the current weather as I write. 

 

     We did get some "warm" weather a week or so ago and that was the inspiration for this post. Massachusetts is certainly much sunnier than Oregon in the winter (a fact I greatly appreciate), but just because it's sunny does not mean that it's warm outside. Your face can still freeze off while the sunlight reflects brightly off the snow. I hadn't really noticed that the weather had gotten a bit warmer until I was waiting for the T and realized that I could feel warmth and realized I was standing in the sunshine. It was a rather faint warmth, and you only noticed it when you stood still in direct sunlight, but still, it was there. It was the clearest example of apricity that I had ever experienced. It was lovely. Since then the weather has fluctuated up and down again, but at least we've had a few days above freezing. My classmates actually got really excited when we saw that the high for last Friday was supposed to be almost 40°. Here's what two of them had to say: 

As for me, I enjoyed going snowboarding on Friday without losing any limbs to frostbite, but I also enjoy the cold, clear days and the snowy ones. I've realized this winter that the human body is great at adapting, given enough time, which is why I found myself walking home from class wearing just a t-shirt under my windbreaker on a day when the thermometer said 17°. It just felt much warmer than the 4° days. Today I'm lucky enough to have both warmer weather and a snow day, which is much appreciated after having 6 exams in 9 days. It's finally time to catch up on work, do a bit of cleaning, and watch the final episode of season three of Sherlock. :)
     I hope everyone reading this is staying warm and enjoying moments of apricity, wherever you are. If you need a little music for this winter, here's a new song by Kylie Marble, the lovely lady who sang at my sister's wedding last summer. Her whole album is also available for free on Noisetrade here.