PotW 3/8/12

Good morning, Everyone!
 
March came in like a lion last week and finally made it look like winter around here.  However, today it's supposed to reach nearly 60.  Either the lion was sickly or has been shot by a poacher.  
 
I'm a skier, and the warm temps are not making me happy.  
 
We pay our dues skiing icy corrugated corduroy with flat, gray light in December and January. Each turn creates a sound akin to riding over the rumble strips before the tollbooth on the Turnpike.  Your teeth chatter.  For the first 2/3rds of the season, (February isn't much better), we cover every square inch of skin to protect ourselves from frostbite and shiver on the chairlift, looking forward to the sunny, still-snowy but less chilly days of March.  Soft corduroy, butter-smooth snow.  Sunglasses, rather than goggles.  Maybe one layer less under the ski jacket.  Ditch the hand-warmers.  Dig out the folding chairs for apre-ski.
 
This is how March skiing is supposed to be.  It is, in a word, glorious, and more than sufficient pay-back for enduring the sub-zeros of Dec, Jan and Feb.  A good March can make you forget how many days of wind-holds there have been.  A good March can make  you dread the coming of Spring.
 
April, on the other hand, is mashed-potato mush.  April is warm.  Melty.  Inconsistent.  Corduroy that washes over the toes of your boots in a slushy, applesauce-like mess with each turn.  April is Raggae Fest, (which has NOTHING to do with skiing).  April is mud in the parking lots, gravel on your ski boots that you can't keep out of your bindings, no matter how you try.  April is those few last beers with seasonal friends you greet with hugs at Homecoming in November, even if you don't know their last names.  You know all the important things: Their hometown, the names/ages of their kids, where they live on the mountain, what they usually drink, what time they all show up at The Bag.  They know the same about you.  April is "Good-bye until next season, have a good summer!" April demands end-of-season acceptance.  April stinks.
 
Which is why this cowardly-lion of a March has me worried.  Not only are we fast-tracking Daylight Saving Time (it's this weekend, in case you didn't know), but it seems we are fast-tracking April, too!
 
Not so darned fast, I say.
 
I want my March corduroy!  For you non-skiers:  "Corduroy" is the name given to the snow that exists in the wake of grooming equipment.  (Like the wake of a boat)  It is ridged, corrugated, and looks like, well, corduroy.  It is the fresh, untouched stuff that you want to be the first to despoil.  March corduroy makes the softest purr under your skis when you turn across the grain.  It's a Roy Orbison growl....smooth.
 
So, while many of you are thinking daffodils and gardens, and spring sports and suntans, I'll still be thinking 'corduroy', at least for 23 more days.
 
Which fully explains the Piece of the Week.  See it on the website: www.twowillowsjewelry.com
 
Until next week--Bring back March!  
Kim
 
PS--My favorite holiday of the year is just around the corner on the 17th.  Make sure you have something green to wear when you go out step-dancing and pint-tipping.  Several green-stoned designs on the website can be mailed to you asap, ensuring no one will pinch you for not being appropriately dressed.  Slainte!