Staunton Star - Times - Published in the Interest of the Staunton Community for Over 143 Years

By: Jill Pertler

I’m a recent transplant – from a northern state to a southern one. I now spend winters in Florida, but for most of my life, I endured the (harsh, frigid, bitter, unending, Arctic, hyperborean) winters of Minnesota, aka Minnesnowta (cold nose, warm heart).

I like to think it made me stronger. Hell, I know it did. You can’t survive and endure 30 degree negative temperatures (with a windchill of unspoken proportions) without cultivating some sort of inner fortitude (not to mention frostbit fingers).

It’s been a cold winter in the Florida. By, cold, I mean about May or September i...