Happy Spring, Readers!
If spring is the season of hope,
its arrival is the most hopeful thing we Erieites have heard in awhile.

I think I speak for an entire city when I say this:

The excitement of Christmas snow has long worn off.

The romantic, fluffy-white flakes now look like the

dirty, clumpy bastards they truly are.

The beautiful ice patterns on water

and windows

just aren't so pretty anymore.

Will I be missing winter and all the warmth and togetherness it brings?

Not.

This.

Year.

Eloise is ready to say:

Looking back through my photos,

it's no wonder I'm so weather weary this year.

This was my first photo of snow on the Lamp Post deck.

Date: October 27th.

By mid-November, we were already accumulating inches.

My own Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot looked like this.

The annual Thanksgiving morning game was played on a white field.

All of my 6 Pack Runs have been completed with snow on the ground.

The snow just kept on piling up.

It simply would not stop.

After the snow accumulations,

enter the Polar Vortex.

It was even too much for my hearty pooch.

But what do we Erieites do?

We still meet friends to run.

We find a subdivision snow pile

to play King of the Mountain on.

We've gone tubing.

We braved the bay ice.

Frozen was the perfect Snow Day movie to go see.

It inspired us to build a snowman of our own.

I snapped many a pretty picture.

Games were played.

We even sunned ourselves in the rare moments it appeared.

A birthday celebration,

outside,

along the lake shore,

Why not?

It was time to add some color to an otherwise colorless landscape.

Visiting an ice castle in 3 degree weather added a splash of color, too

When the calendar page turned to March, we thought we had the winter licked.

Well,

the fools did, anyway.

We got another blast last week.

I'm saving this one to look at when I complain of the heat in July.

After struggling through this long winter, I want to hold on to my city's

Claim to Fame.

We've been holding the top spot for the US Snowiest City, until today.

At a 5:30 pm posting on March 21st, it seems that Syracuse has tied us!

Golden Snow Globe National Snow Contest Snowiest US City Pop 100,000+

A fun national snow contest for the snowiest city in the United States with a population of 100,000 or more! Check to see if Your city winter snowfall totals are listed.

Breaking News – Syracuse Finally on Top of Snow Mountain BUT

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Patrick

———————————————————-
Updated 3/21 5:30 PM - It looks like we have a New King of The Snow Mountain for the first time in more than 3 months. WAIT, We actually have 2 Kings of the snow mountain right now

Syracuse, last seasons comeback city has now tied Erie and is sharing the top spot as of the last update from the National Weather Service. What a run for Erie, PA on the top of the mountain and they still don’t want to move. WTG Erie! It’s not even close to being over yet and is still up for grabs. Go Syracuse, Go Erie

———————————————————

Can Erie hold on that long though is the question? Syracuse has melted away most of Erie, PA’s lead now. Erie leads Syracuse, NY by just a few snowflakes. As of the last update the lead was cut to just 0.3 tenths of an inch. Maybe a better question is can Erie hold on when the next update comes out. It’s been snowing off and on in the Syracuse area and if it hasn’t been snowing in Erie there is a good possibility that we may have a lead change for the first time in a long time. IS IT SNOWING IN ERIE?

Looking back at my snow stats it looks like Erie, PA has held on to the lead since at least December 15th, 2013 which is most likely the longest any city has held the lead since I started The Golden Snow Globe. The last city to hold it before Erie was Billings, Montana who was the King of the snow mountain on December 11th, 2013. No doubt it will be interesting come the next update.

I'm sorry to say that the competitor in Eloise

is rooting for one more snowfall to seal the title.

Sorry, Erie.

We need to win this!

In the meantime, Eloise will be looking for ways to add color to The Lamp Post.

I will be on the lookout for signs of spring.

Fresh flowers on the table always help.

My hubby gets me some every Friday.

Blue and orange are complimentary colors.

So is green glass against red lips.

Bowling alleys are colorful places filled with colorful people.

The leagues are wrapping up, but Open Bowling is always fun.

Having something to look forward to always helps.

I signed up for Challenge Erie 5 this week.

It is Erie Chiropractor Dr. Steven Krauza's effort to improve the health of an entire county.

It's my personal effort to improve my Wellness Quotient.

Registration has opened!

I've already found my ~~sucker~~ buddy.

You can sign up for a discount if you find someone to do Challenge Erie with you.

For more details about the fun wellness program that will keep you motivated all summer long,

click the link below.

For Challenge Erie 5 info CLICK HERE

There's just one,

little,

teeny-tiny,

catch:

Doc is missing!

And the extremely uncomfortable part,

is that I think she has something to do with it!

I really wished for some color in my life this week.

This developing story is proof that you have to be careful what you wish for.

Stay tuned to the Lamp Post for the latest developments of Doc's disappearance

and the suspected involvement of my sister Kenyan.

I may have to take the reigns for Challenge Erie 5 if Doc doesn't turn up soon.

Enjoy the week's photos, set to the perfect goodbye song--The Cups Song by Anna Kendrick, from the movie Pitch Perfect. I used it this week in my classes, as I will be bidding my students farewell for a week. My program shuts down to accommodate the Pennsylvania State testing schedule.

The Cups Song has a very interesting history. Here is the link to follow if you'd like to hear the original hillbilly version:

Click here for Hillbilly song (scroll to middle of linked post)

Goodbye winter. I won't miss you.

Eloise