We’re supposed to get a late season Nor’Easter tomorrow evening through Friday.  I’m really hoping that this does not become a repeat of the April Fools Day Storm from my senior year of college.  I doubt it will, but hell – you never know.  Especially after this winter that refuses to end.  We didn’t think we’d get two feet from THAT storm, either – especially after the gorgeous weather that had been in Boston for Easter Sunday only one day before.

My poor toy daffodils are going to snuff it, I’m afraid.  (“toy” because they’re determined to bloom when they’re only about two inches tall.)  Le sigh…

So in honor of this never-ending winter, here’s my Thursday Thirteen for the week:

Thirteen Things I’m Convinced Will Never Arrive in New England Again In My Lifetime.

1.  Warmth.  Normally we’re in the 50s this time of year.  Know where we are?  Mid 30s.  Right now, 40 degrees is balmy.  I’m convinced that I’m going to be wearing gloves in July at this point.

2.  Green Grass.  Not that my yard has a lot of quality grass in it anyway – we have that “well, at least it’s green” type of yard.  But it’s brown thatch right now.  No signs of perking up.

3. The ability to open up all of the storm windows.  We attempted to open two of them when we had a strange stretch of… wait for it… mid 40s weather (yes – THAT felt warm enough to open the house… it’s been that cold!).  We were promptly rewarded with an inch of snow the next day.  Now the windows are kept closed out of fear of reprisal.  Confession:  I did open my office window due to dust on Sunday night as I did some tidying.  So… this impending storm may be my fault.

4. The URI Spring Fair – if it stays this farking cold, I can’t buy my veggies for my garden, can I?  They’ll just all die off from freezing.

5.  “The MBTA is running on time.” That doesn’t matter, regardless of season.  It just won’t happen.  I shoujld know better than to dream about that.  For the record, I’ve already given up… and starting in April, I’m back to an actual subway-only pass for the MBTA instead of my $250 per month commuter rail pass, because I just can’t deal with the train unreliability anymore.

6. Lines outside Iggys.  The window won’t open until it’s warm enough.  So on our rambles to Iggys, we’ll have to stand inside with the winter crowd instead of enjoying the beach as we wait.  Bah.

7. Cats passed out in morning sunbeams.  They’re not lasting long enough, and they’re not warm enough because we still have to keep the radiators going – detracting the cats from said sunbeams.

8. Coatless mornings. Seriously, I hate having to wear a coat everywhere.  I hate the extra weight.  I hate having to deal with it sliding off my shoulders.  It’s just still too cold to even pull off the sweater over a shirt trick.

9. Sunday morning coffee with a breeze. This may go under the aforementioned storm window opening – but there’s really nothing more soothing than that weekend morning with coffee, smelling fresh cut grass as neighbors mow, and enjoying a sunny, cheery morning that didn’t involve an alarm clock.

10.  Patio dining.  I really want a sunny lunch somewhere outside.  I’m craving eating outside.

11.  Grilling parties - we held a few nice ones last year with great weather, great friends, and great food.  Half of our friends can’t go into our house due to the cats, though – so until the weather improves, we can’t have a lot of people over for meals.

12.  A really clean kitchen floor. Like many New Englanders, I’m in that hovering “I’ll scrub it once the weather improves” phase.  I thought I would have been there by now.  But yeah, we’re still dealing with winter sand and salt, so I’ve only been doing the minimum to keep it from being disgusting.

13.  Spring.  TWO WEEKS IN – I WANT SPRING!