I’ve always heard that what happens on New Year’s Day foretells happenings of the coming year. And beginning on New Year’s Eve on up into the morning of the New Year, things were rather dicey around here. Better said, rather icy.

With the bitter cold air surrounding us and moisture moving up from the Gulf of Mexico, we had an unexpected surprise: though not a heavy rain, the air was full of moisture, a mist, which led to the roads becoming nearly impassable. Unfortunately for us, that led to us not having our ritual New Year’s dinner at a local Asian buffet; had to settle for call-in Mexican from a nearby restaurant, and at that, it was an adventurous drive to pick up dinner.

So, other than me making the trip to pick up dinner, we spent the evening at home watching the events transpire in Times Square up to the ball drop and then having a glass of wine along with our first kiss of the year, another New Year’s tradition foretelling that closeness will continue throughout the next twelve months. But even though that personal warmth was secured with that kiss, that sure didn’t dispel the coldness outside.

And that coldness has yet to dissipate the first four days of the New Year; the temperatures have been bitter cold with no sign of relief until early next week, and even then, morning temperatures will be in the low 20’s. At this very minute, heading towards high noon, the temperature is 17° with a wind chill of 9° and snow flurries wafting about, most likely our little bit of the bomb cyclone that’s hit the east coast which is roughly 500 miles from our mountain location. Still, just being in these Western North Carolina mountains sets the stage for winter’s ravages, something I’ve dealt with my entire life.

But one thing I’d never seen in my entire life is the French Broad River freezing over in the winter, and I mean NEVER! But on the second day of the year when we were driving our son back to the first day of school (with a two-hour delay, at that, because of the New Year’s ice storm), we were astonished to cross the Craggy Bridge and see the river totally iced over.

Never in my life would I ever have imagined such a thing happening! And to be sure, my little wifey being from the Philippines had certainly never imagined such; she’d never even experienced winter until coming here to the US, seeing snow for the first time ever her first Christmas here, perfect timing for a White Christmas. Most of my friends don’t ever recall seeing our hometown river dressed in white.

Thankfully, though, time does move on and the seasons change so this New Year’s frigid start will pass. But not just yet; I must be patient. Starting tonight, for the next few days, the overnight lows will be in the low teens and/or single digits. But…I can hardly wait until my first day on the golf course. Then I’ll know that the winter of my discontent with the cold is over.