"This is exactly the weather we could wish for, if you are but well enough to enjoy it."

January 24, 2016

Dear Jane,

Pray, dear friend, I fear you must forgive me my giddiness at the moment. I have been reading through a couple of your letters (from a marvelous book called, Jane Austen's Letters by Deirdre Le Faye) in order to find an appropriate quote for the title of my letter today and I must tell you that I have found the most perfect one yet. Two-hundred and three years ago, precisely to the day (Sunday 24 January 1813), you wrote a letter to your dear sister, Cassandra and started with these sentiments: "This is exactly the weather we could wish for, if you are but well enough to enjoy it. I shall be glad to hear that you are not confined to a house by an increase of Cold." I feel as though I have travelled back through time! Luckily, I am quite well enough to enjoy the cold and it is a good thing because the cold has certainly arrived. Allow me to explain. 

New York City (as well as Washington D.C., Baltimore, the Carolinas, etc.) experienced a blizzard of prodigious proportions yesterday. This storm was so large that weather experts found that it needed a name and thus decided to call it, "Jonas." Now, I have taken it upon myself to discover the meaning of the name of Jonas in order to better understand why they chose that particular name for this winter storm. As always, the "internet" provided a wealth of knowledge that ended up being rather ironic in this situation. According to meaning-of-names.com (a well named URL if I ever saw one), Jonas can mean three things:

1. Accomplishing
2. Gift from God
3. Dove

 Let us "break down" these meanings in relation to #BlizzardJonas2016:

1. If the aim of storm Jonas was to bury much of the eastern seabord in snow, then it accomplished it's goal. In fact, it went above and beyond! Some states saw as much as forty inches of snow. (My dear sister, Rachael is in D.C. and is quite buried, I fear!)
2. Many believe that nature provides absolute proof that God exists. I must say that in a way, this storm was very much like a gift from God, for who else could have the power to send it with such might? In truth, someone named Jonas must have made a substantial impact this year (or last) on the "big guy upstairs" for us to receive a "gift" such as this!
3. A dove. How very ironic for as you know, snow is white and doves are white. Superficial reasoning to be sure, but I shall endeavor to just "go with it."

I cannot say why I felt inclined to break down those meanings and their relation to our blizzard, but there you have it and you are most welcome, to be sure.

After spending the entirety of the day indoors, my roommates and I gathered our courage and decided to venture into the snow around seven o'clock last evening. How glad I am that we did, for being so long confined in the house can be most irksome. The journey was proposed by Libby and Darcie (my roommates...yes, their names are Elizabeth and Darcie, respectively. They are both females, but it makes me quite happy now that I have made the connection!) made a steadfast oath to protect and feed two felines of their close acquaintance so we made it our mission to go and feed them despite the treacherous weather. Happily, we enjoyed our walk as we sauntered through the snow. On the way back to our abode, we stopped into our local pub, The Cuckoo's Nest, and enjoyed a nice, cold pint of ale (two each...) and an order of french-fries (two of those as well). We deemed it "SNOW BEER" and had a grand time. 

Whilst in the pub and in my "merry" state, I decided to make a profile on OkCupid (a modern match-making application. Unfortunately, in today's world, Emma Woodhouse would be quite useless when it comes to matchmaking for the internet does it all for us now!) Libby, Darcie and I thought it would be great fun to experiment and see "who was out there." Needless to say, the men seemed to be rather desperate. I got the silliest of messages even though I have no information listed on my profile. They have no idea that I am an avid Jane Austen and Harry Potter enthusiast, that I (at times) love pizza more than people, or that I will always choose staying home over going out. Nevertheless, I received these messages thus far:

1. "You are so beautiful that you give the sun a good reason to shine everyday." 
2. "Lets get married and make babies :)"
3. "Hello bright eyes. Have a seat and let me sketch the pretty woman."

I am appalled, Jane, simply appalled. But regardless, it is ever so amusing. As an experiment, I should see how many of these messages I get before they know a single thing about me. I dare say it will be such fun!

Anyway, I hope everyone has stayed safe in the snow and had the most splendid of snow days!

Yours Faithfully,

Amanda