Come on over and sit a spell...

The good citizens of my town have been trying for days now to extricate their cars from the snowy mix of flakes and ice that turned the streets into an eerie cemetery of cars laid to rest in impenetrable frozen mausoleums.

A few determined souls have managed to dig their autos from their icy graves, but, once free, they hesitate to leave the newly cleared spaces for fear that someone will swoop in and claim them as their own. A dilemma for sure, and one that requires a bold and dramatic gesture born of remarkable ingenuity...

Behold: The Folding Beach Chair.

Each colorful aluminum seat stands guard, centered in the patch of excavated pavement, while its owner is at work or running errands. The chairs are sprouting up every where like primroses in the spring - a veritable rainbow of plastic webbing and metal - each a testament to the tenacity and perserverance of winter-weary warriors.

It always surprises me to see these traditional icons of seaside exuberance dotting the city streets while mountains of snow tower around them. But it cheers me, too. Because while the worst of the winter may well be waiting in the wings, ready to swoop down yet again, surely summer's just around the corner.

I mean, we've got the beach chairs already. We just need a bit of that Global Warming stuff and we'll be good to go, right?

Hope, like beach chairs on city streets, springs eternal.