Seasons changing

Ciao, winter! As I annoyingly kept saying in czech over the weekend, "Nemam rad dlouhou zimu", which translates as "I don't like long winters." This might be obvious, but as one of the few things I can actually say in czech, it works well as a conversation starter. Last week I had the feeling that a bear has the right idea - as autumn arrives he gorges on honey and fish, occasionally roughousing with some nomadic male invading on his territory. Hopefully he mates, then contentedly he curls up in a furry ball for the duration of the winter. After a nice nap, and covered in several months of urine, he emerges, bathes, and starts trying to mate again. Our animal friends have much to teach us. I, on the other hand, was trudging through snowdrifts in loafers, searing profusely and talking to myself, God, or whoever, commenting upon how crappy everything seemed. But as I laid about in Nove Mesto, it started to rain. No snow - actual unfrozen rain. Some of the 10-foot high snowdrifts made their way down to about 8 feet. And all across the countryside, still hibernating under a blanket of snow, steam rose off the icy covering, giving a weird foggy quality to the train ride back to Prague. And finally - a sunset! All winter the sky is monochrome - gray during the day, black at night. But last night on the train there was an honest to God sunset - purple sky, red blazing sun, complete with swirls of clouds and stars all around. The czech people in my compartment went crazy, pointing and moving around the train to keep an eye on the thing. Now it's 70 degrees outside. Absolutely positively preposterous. There's gotta be mass flooding in the countryside - I mean it was freezing 2 days ago. And it had been freezing for 5 months. Now it's 70. Trees have buds. I have sanity again. And soon there will be beergardens. April 16th is Easter, and I will once more partake in that golden brew. As Ben Franklin once said "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Amen