Warming to winter

Reading Tom Weber’s column, “No cure for a winter in Maine” (BDN, Feb. 10), bemoaning the drawbacks of a Maine winter, got this Maine native’s blood boiling. Apart from the fact that reading such negativity only breeds more negativity, I really believe there are many more positive aspects to the winter experience than there are discouraging ones.

I can understand how the gray days of November as the sunlight is declining can make us feel on the decline as well, but now that the Earth is on its way toward a more southerly tilt, I just don’t think there’s much justification for having the winter blahs.

It’s established medical fact now that exposure to bright natural sunlight is essential in maintaining a positive mood. Surely nothing could be more brilliant than the crisp sun we’ve been blessed with these past couple months, reflecting off the snow and ice that is all around us. How could anyone find fault with a cloudless azure sky, the exact same blue as in the summer yet seeming even brighter in contrast to the blinding white snow blanketing the ground?

Personally, when I find myself donning sunglasses more often than not when I get in my car, I feel at least a warm reminder of the summer’s blazing afternoons. What could possibly be more fun than going out downhill or cross-country skiing, snowshoeing or sledding on a sunny winter day practically anywhere in the state?

I challenge anyone to show me a more spectacular sight than the view from the top of the ski lift on Ragged Mountain in Camden, a panorama that takes in everything from Blue Hill to the mountains of Mount Desert and Isle au Haut southward to Vinalhaven. A lovely sight in the summer, to be sure, but truthfully even more beautiful when everything within sight is covered in dazzling white. Or, equally beautiful, how about the view from the top of Big Moose (Squaw) Mountain? Again, a gorgeous view any time of the year, but incredibly expansive and uplifting when Mount Katahdin, North Brother, Traveler and all the other peaks are completely white.

Yet truly, nothing could bring any Mainer closer to wintertime nirvana than to breathe the almost electrically charged air of Alfond Arena during a University of Maine hockey game. Indiana has its Indianapolis 500, Kentucky boasts its derby, but the state of Maine has its beloved hockey team.

It is a marvel how lucky we are in this small state to witness great hockey played by so many fine players who have gone on to prominent National Hockey League careers. Plus, being immersed in the rhythm of the students’ irresistible chants, the applause and the screams of the crowd, all under the wooden Alfond ceiling, makes you feel like you’re in a cabin with your favorite crazy relatives. If that doesn’t get your blood going, you indeed have some serious medical issues. Even if you’re foolish enough to be a Boston College or University of New Hampshire fan at the Alfond, your blood would be pumping just because of your will to survive and get out of the arena alive.

On top of the many other things about winter that make me feel even more alive than at any other time is my added experience of spending six months in Sweden as an exchange student. Just trust me on this one – take the worst parts of a Maine winter and add them to almost complete darkness, the black night that northernmost Scandinavians experience for up to 24 hours a day to approximate a Swedish winter. Just experience it once in your lifetime. You will never, I repeat never, complain about a Maine winter. Ever. Again. Even you, Tom Weber.

Then, perhaps most meaningfully, we always have the first crocuses and snowdrops, the first robins and the ice-outs to look forward to when the warmth finally comes. If we had no winter, we would never lack for birds or flowers, but then we wouldn’t have the delicious anticipation of all that awaits us in the spring.

All in all, I’m so glad to live here. We are lucky to be here. Even you, Tom Weber.

Patricia Claus is a free-lance writer who lives in Orrington.