Showing posts with label Hartwick Pines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hartwick Pines. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Is It Spring?




Or is Mother Nature teasing us?

The snow is gone. The temp is supposed to get into the mid-sixties today. Despite the large dumping of snow last Wednesday and again on Saturday, the ducks are back in the pond. And for three days in a row, the sun is shining.

Gotta be Spring.


Then again, the worst snowstorm I’ve ever been in occurred on St. Patrick’s Day. Newly married, Hubs and I took a weekend vacation Up North (what Michiganders call traveling north of the middle of the state). Hubs has fond memories of time spent at a church camp near Grayling as a camper and as business manager. On Saturday, we took a leisurely walk through Hartwick Pines (an old growth forest) where a light snow was falling. As we drove south planning to visit friends in Lansing, the snow increased. Traffic slowed. Cars spun off into ditches or the median. Hubs’ knuckles turned white as he struggled to keep our car on the road. When we passed a snow plow stuck in the median, we decided it was time to get off the highway. Apparently, so did a lot of other people. We got the last motel room in Alma. After that, they started putting people up in the high school gym. And the state police closed the highway.

The next morning, the snow had stopped. The sun came out. The highway was open. I’m sure there have been worse storms since then, but none that I’ve been in.

Is Spring here? Or will we get dumped on again? You never know. One thing I’ve learned about Michigan weather is to expect the unexpected.

My latest PI mystery, The Case of the Fabulous FiancĂ©, takes place around this time of year. It starts in winter and ends with the hint of Spring. Despite the weather, Alex O’Hara runs every day. She’s a hardy Michigan girl who doesn’t let snow deter her. Rain, yes. Not snow. What’s putting a cramp in her investigation business is no receptionist, phone and internet problems, and three new cases. Plus, her boyfriend disappeared over two months ago. What’s a girl to do? She keeps on keeping on.