Cue the snowy 'Dr. Zhivago' music

When some of my Connecticut friends would complain about winter weather, I would often chide them by saying winters here were a piece of cake, you haven’t experienced winter’s fury until you’ve lived in Chicago.

Well, this winter, I’ve had my comeuppance.

Here we are, just beginning February, and the winter already seems endless. Chicago, in some respects, however, still takes the “worst-ever” trophy. We were new to the area with relatively little money and two small energetic boys who were both still in diapers (cloth ones that froze on the clothesline).

You couldn’t keep two active little ones indoors, and my entire long winter seemed to consist of getting one in a clean diaper and zipped to his ears in a snowsuit, only to have to undress, change the diaper on his brother and again bundle him into his snowsuit before bracing for the bitter cold and unforgiving wind.

Our daughter, Marianne, was not born until well after our Chicago sojourn, but she did choose the equally cold climate of Iowa City for her college years. I recall our shopping together for one of those down-filled puffy coats that make you look like you are coming when you’re going.

Upon finally leaving Iowa, she informed me she had burned the coat and vowed never to live anywhere where she would have to wear something like that again. True, to her word, she spent a short time working in Washington and then started a business in San Francisco, where she has lived, sans heavy winter clothing, happily, ever since.

I suppose, if one is young and athletic, all this snow can present many opportunities for fun. As for me, arthritis is appearing in joints I didn’t know I had, my heating bill is going to be a whopper, and the calendar looks like a crossword puzzle with appointments canceled, rescheduled and canceled again.

Attempting to keep a business appointment in downtown New Haven on a sunny day, I nearly got permanently stuck on an uncleared side street, and finding nowhere to park, gave up and drove home. I’m also expected to sound genuinely thrilled for several friends who will be leaving on winter vacations in exotic, warm places. (They better not show their faces again until they’ve at least had the decency to lose their tans).

As my mother use to tell me, “There’s always somebody who is worse off.” Skye, Scotland, is reputed to be one of the coldest inhabited places, excluding Antarctica, which doesn’t count because outside of scientists, nobody lives there except penguins and seals.

Oymyakon in Eastern Siberia has winter nine months of the year with average temperatures of minus 49 degrees. Everything freezes, from electronics to gasoline.

In our own country, the prize goes to International Falls, Minn., with winter temperatures of minus 32 degrees. Why anyone would ever choose it as a vacation destination is beyond my understanding, but there are a growing group of “ice hotels,” the first of which opened in Sweden, where visitors can play Eskimo during their stay.

Igloo accommodations, which are rebuilt every year, feature an ice bar, a wedding chapel and even a heated glass igloo where you can stay awake and watch the Northern Lights.

Consoling myself with a mug of hot chocolate the other night, I came upon some other reflections on winter weather:

- “It snowed and snowed the whole world over ... snow swept the world from end to end.” — Boris Pasternak

- “Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.” — Unknown

- “Winter is on my head but eternal spring is in my heart.” — Victor Hugo

- Lastly, and good for all of us to keep in mind: “One kind word can warm these winter months.” — Japanese proverb

Contact Jean Cherni, founder of the retirement advisory service, Senior Living Solutions, at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds at Hotchkiss Grove, Branford 06405.

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