Spring snows are always the most damaging to the psyche. March 21st passes and you think to yourself, we’re in the clear and the sun will shine more and the furniture can go outside and, and…bam! And it’s a wet heavy snow, always the worst. There is a solution: Maintain the winter happy hour. Usually for us, once we’re outside, we’re outside day and evening. In the winter, we cocoon in the parlor, light candles and have a cocktail or two. With up to sixteen inches of snow that may fall over the next twenty-four hours, there’s really nothing better to do. We’ve played cribbage and backgammon all winter, we’ve walked, we’ve made great dinners, and we’ve had a taste of spring being in California for the last couple of weeks, so another Manhattan actually sounds good. Rationalizing about alcohol, or any drug for that matter, is always a perilous prospect, but dammit, it’s snowing! Again! So a toast to sunny days and flowers and green grass and fishing and everything that goes with spring in the North. Shit, it’s really coming down…I need more ice.