Virginia.

It's the south.  But not the deep south.  The drawl is less slow, the belles are less spoiled and even the rednecks are more laid back than when you drive further down I95.  And we like it better than the north as well...  There is a famous, and as far as I know, anonymous quote that goes "To be a Virginian, either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one's Mother's side, is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above."

It's home for me.  I can think of lots of other places I want to visit, but no where else I want to come home to at the end of my travels.

Winter is coming to Virginia.  As I type that I can hear my brother laughing at me all the way from Wyoming.  But here in Virginia, we are not used to the cold.  Our blood is warm.  Our houses are warm, and we don't do well with the onslaught of cold that starts this time of year.
One way you can tell you're in the south is to turn on the news before a snow storm.  They report the snow's approach as if it were an invading army.  Flurries have been spotted in the foothills and coming closer to town.  Update at 5.

And for God's sake, don't go near the grocery store when snow is forecast.  It never stays on the ground more than a day or two but people buy as if they will be snowed in for a month.  The stores actually run out of bread, milk and toilet paper.

I, for one, am done with winter already, and it hasn't officially started yet.

Still....There are a few good things about winter in the south.   Homemade Soup.  Cocoa.  Tights and boots.  Snow days.   And the holidays are coming, good family gatherings... I guess those things happen even in the north, but the snow melts faster here so we can get to them.

And spring is just around the corner.