Getting through the winter is snow big deal

“You blow the bubbles and I’ll hold the camera.” Mrs. Hall threw on her fur vest over her ski sweater and handed Mr. Hall the jug of bubble solution. The weather guessers on the television had just announced what Mrs. Hall had suspected already; despite the bright sunshine, early morning temps had been hovering around the -10 degree mark. Perfect weather for freezing soap bubbles on the patio and she was determined to get it on film this time.

“I’m cold and it’s impossible to shoot clear bubbles on a dark white background,” grumbled Mr. Hall, as he went along with her. Several unfortunate attempts at filmmaking later, they returned, with Mr. Hall surpressing an 'I told you so.'
“It’s too warm now,” sulked Mrs. Hall. “Who knows when we’ll get back into the minus temps again?” “With any luck,” Mr. H. muttered under his breath, “we won’t see them again until next December.” He hung his coat up and returned to the morning news.

The winter blues were settling in somewhat earlier this year at the Hall. Hancock International in Syracuse had reported about 103 inches of snow already since winter “officially” began, and Marcellus, having been more directly in the path of the lake effect, had seen probably 20 inches or more of the white stuff, beyond that. The Halls were not immune to its effects. Last Tuesday, after a particularly dull day at work, Mrs. Hall declared she had had enough. Announcing herself to be in the throes of an unfathomable ennui, disgusted that the treadmill needed repairs and that their coffee lacked both flavor and finesse, she decided to call it a day and attempted to persuade Mr. Hall to agree. To her infinite surprise, he acquiesced almost immediately. Within the hour, they found themselves immersed wrist-deep in a greasy tub of popcorn and watching “The Green Hornet” (in 3-D!) at the local cinema. “And for heaven’s sake, recycle the 3-D glasses this time,” he said, as they left. (Mrs. Hall was notoriously frugal.) “We’ve got tons of them at home already.” "I know that that Chyrsler Imperial can't hold a candle to the Big Black Car, but do you think there's any chance we could look into getting a turn table in here, like in the movie? We've got a ton of vinyl in the catacombs downstairs and it would be way easier to just spin those platters the way they are, instead of taking the time to convert them all to MP3s." Mr. Hall gave that suggestion the full 30 seconds it deserved, and then declined.