If you were to pick one title to sum up this much-maligned
season, Hugo’s “Les Miserables” might come to mind. Or maybe “The Winter of Our
Discontent.” I was pretty sure Shakespeare first penned those immortal words
but to be sure, I did what any good Reference Librarian would do: I googled it.
So begins the tragedy “Richard III”:
“Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of York.”
I wondered if the future sovereign had survived a tough winter himself back in
1471 before “snow events” become commonplace, so I read on. It seems Will was
waxing more metaphorical than meteorological.
Richard, I
discovered, opens the play not by grousing about the weather but by celebrating
an upturn in his family’s
fortunes. His brother Edward IV (they are sons of the Duke of York) had seized
the English crown from Henry VI and the Lancastrian house. So what Richard was
actually saying was something like “the oppression of our family, which made
life like a long winter, has turned into a summery sweetness now that my
brother is king.” In other words, life is good. Who knew? Okay, Shakespeare
scholars, history buffs, and anyone who actually read the first scene of “Richard III—or paid attention in
class—but besides them? If you’d
like to be counted among this learned group, check out the Norwood Library’s copy of “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: with the Landing
of Earl Richmond and the Battle at Bosworth Field.”
Four centuries later, John Steinbeck borrowed Shakespeare’s words for the title of his
last novel, which won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Reading about
the Hawley family from Long Island, where I grew up, got me wondering when I’d
last tackled Steinbeck. I think it was ninth grade when we were assigned “The
Pearl,” which we appreciated primarily for its brevity. Or maybe it was “Of
Mice and Men” with Lenny and George. If you saw Julie Harris and James Dean in “East of Eden” but never got
around to reading the book, both are there for the asking at the library, along
with Steinbeck’s other
classics.
But getting back to the opening of “Richard III.” If Shakespeare
could put a positive spin on those lines, I figured I should be able to find a
silver lining in this interminable season myself. So rather than harp on
hellish commutes, endless shoveling,
ice dams, frozen pipes, and the fact that my little pup can now easily
escape the fenced-in backyard by scampering over the snowbanks, I tried taking
a page out of the bard’s
book.
I managed to come up with three good things that happened this
winter:
1) Hula Hooping
After the kids had hulaed their little hearts out with Kat during
school vacation week, I took a
break from tax form duty at the Reference Desk and snuck into the Simoni room,
determined to relearn the technique I’d lost. Much frenzied hip thrusting and a
helpful hint later (pretend you’re John Travolta in “Saturday Night
Fever”), I was so excited when I finally succeeded. I was sore for the next
several days but when the instructor mentioned that 10 minutes of hooping is
equivalent to running a 10-minute mile, I was sold. Tip: The bigger the hoop,
the better—that is, easier. If you, too, are looking for an excuse to avoid the
treadmill, channel your inner Travolta and give it a whirl.
2) Beyond “Breaking Bad”
TV series today are like snowflakes—too numerous to count and no two the same. Just
because you love “Downton Abbey”
doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in other televised
pleasures as well. Whether you follow the former Mrs. Soprano as trauma queen
“Nurse Jackie”—the addict you either love or hate—the power-crazed couple Kevin
Spacey and Robin Wright in “House of Cards,” Claire Danes taking on terrorism a
bit too close to home in “Homeland,” handsome Jon Hamm in flashback to the
fifties “Mad Men,” lovable Amy
Poehler in “Parks and Rec,” women behind bars in “Orange is the New Black,” the fast-paced
on- and off-screen action in “Newsroom,” or the post-apocalyptic
edge-of-your-seat suspense in “The Walking Dead,” there’s something for
everyone. Not to mention all the series I haven’t even gotten to yet. Fellow
non-NetFlixers can check out these and dozens more riveting dramas, including
your favorite old TV shows, at the library. They’re downright addictive.
3) Food, Glorious Food
Nothing says winter like the tantalizing whiff of wood smoke.
While Pandora raged, we pretended we’d lost power and cooked over an open fire,
much like the Pilgrims might have done—if they'd had the benefit of a Tuscan grill.
A low metal tray with a notched frame to support an adjustable rack, a Tuscan
grill is a nifty little gadget designed to fit inside your fireplace. It’s perfect for pizza. Almost
anything you find in the fridge is fair game for toppings: tomatoes, olives,
onions, mushrooms, peppers, fresh basil, pepperoni.. Did someone say cheese?
FYI, Tuscan grilling is also the ideal activity for the pyro at heart. In
addition to “Mario Batali Italian Grill” and my personal favorite, “License to
Grill,” the library has a wealth of mouthwatering recipes for grilling, both
inside and out. If you want to give Tuscan grilling a go, “Michael Chiarello’s Live Fire” is a must-read. He devotes an
entire chapter to “Pizzas on the Grill” and states unequivocally, “the hearth is
the most romantic place to cook, no question.” I couldn't agree more.
We may be under winter’s thrall for a few more weeks, but as Shakespeare well knew, “glorious
summer” is not merely a season but a mindset. Despite the fact that Norwood was
slammed with almost 90 inches of snowfall in February, I like to think it’s
always sunny in the library.
