NOVEMBER.

Always a dreary month it seems. Yesterday, the first day of the month, while it was cold, was an exception, with a full day of moderate sunshine. Can't expect much else around here at this time of year.

Much as I love the big lakes and our close proximity to what seems like a freshwater oceans, our weather is affected entirely by them. We live in the third cloudiest county in the US. Lake effect snow is a term not used many other areas (Buffalo and Cleveland are exceptions). What causes that, you might wonder? Where defines that term? "When the cold air blows over the warm water of the lakes" is the best description I can give. Then anything goes. More snow, more clouds, more humidity, more smog (not that we really have too much of that fortunately), etc. And then you have this situation: the colder the water in Lake Michigan (or other Great Lakes), the less snow we will have. Go figure. You get a cold summer and then a mild winter. Or, you have a great summer and a snowier than usual winter. You can never win here, it seems.

One day of clear skies and sunshine and you usually pay for it with clouds, rain, and/or snow. Today our payback is snow. Right now, it is very lovely looking out there, big fluffy flakes, reminding you of a snow globe effect. But I am not fooled by this seemingly harmless white stuff. Our temperture is 32 degrees. It is wet and damp. The sky is gray. And then you can add all the idiot drivers out there who forget how to drive from year to year and it proves my point: winter is not to be taken lightly.

Anyone can love the blue skies and sunshine of warmer climates, even overlooking the fact that you may have hurricanes or wild fires, eqrthquakes, or intense heat. You have a better disposition with all that sunshine, if nothing else. But to go through the days of November through March and deal with the dampness, cold, gray skies, and anything else Mother Nature decides to send our way and you really have to be disciplined and tough minded to get out there to either work out in the outdoors or just get to your workout destination. Its no wonder there are so many depressed people in these climates!

So what am I getting at? I think my point is, no matter the weather, I always feel better working out. Sunshine is an added bonus, but just getting out there, sweating, breathing hard, getting the blood flowing, all help you feel better about yourself and feel better generally.

I am going to try hard to keep this perspective this winter. I HATE WINTER. But it seems the least I can do. I may be limited in physical things right now, but I do control my mind, and one of my goals for next year is to get tough minded in all areas of my life. Learn to deal with what is yet do what I have to to change what I can.