December 14, 2025

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

It is snowing here in Rockland County, N.Y., not far from Gotham but with an ever-country look when it’s dressed in fresh white, an unfinished canvas as more flakes fall.

The second snowfall of this season, it promises to be a mere 6-7 inches in some areas, 70 percent more than the first time. Yet with both, especially being the first two coatings, it is welcome if you enjoy seasonal change. Everything is clean: black roads, repaired over and over for the utility work demanded by progress but now hidden in winter garb; ever-increasing traffic much less as drivers stay home; kids slipping and sliding to the music that playing in snow brings the young.

This will not last forever, nor should it. A few snowfalls on, it will again be old hat, and we will wish for spring crocuses, even summer heat from those who want that.

Fall does not end until Dec. 21, but winter comes to us as co-companion, elbowing in with the first snow. It offers Hallmark visions, recollection of past seasons and a reminder that the warm coat you have in storage is there and waiting for reunion.

It is snowing here in Rockland and wherever else. Be safe; relish the newness; and once again, for a moment, be as giddy as kids.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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