You mean Winter hasn't even started, yet? No, alas, Winter still is five days away! Yet the wintry blast is upon us. I've shoveled (twice) and already pulled-out my fake-fur hat ("hat hair" be damned—I usually wait much longer to submit). It is cold and icy and Pittsburghers already are cancelling their plans—whether joyous or obligatory.
I don't remember "The Snow" posing such a threat to New Yorkers. In New York, one cannot easily avoid the meteorological elements (or other New Yorkers). One must leave the apartment, alight the sidewalk, and walk (outdoors) to the store, to work or to the subway. Snow (or "pending snow") never seemed to affect New York denizens—with the exception of generating a surge in Chinese delivery. After a snowfall, New Yorkers would dig-out their snow boots (if they had a pair) and meander through the narrow "rat trails" of snow which had been dug (or trampled) by Who Knows. Despite the snow, life marches onward.
Now the rain—that's a different issue! In New York, it is the rain which brings progress to a standstill. Auto traffic seems to stop. Subway tracks flood (and the trains stop). And rain is dirty—for example, when one is splashed by a taxi or one steps into an unexpectedly deep pothole.
While one can recover quickly from a romantic dusting of snowflakes, it is much harder to restore-the-look once drenched (hair, shoes, party gown). And one might stay damp for hours.
Perhaps the difference between snow and rain (in New York) is that snow lays atop the city—and piles-up. It doesn't seep-in and flood suddenly. Rain, on the other hand, works its way into the deepest nooks and crannies of New York's infrastructure (never a good thing) and too much at once overwhelms the drainage system. In Pittsburgh, on the other hand, automobiles are the added complicating element which makes the snow so worrisome. Many Pittsburghers rely on cars to get around. It is the driving, not the snow itself, which freaks-out Pittsburghers.
The handsome Arts & Crafts vase, shown above, was made by Fulper (Flemington, New Jersey) just after the turn of the twentieth century. Its organic, dripping, crystalline glazing—in multiple blues—conveys the icy beauty of the Winter Season. Click on the photo above to learn more about it.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.