wintry weather

Today we're in the initial throes of the Arctic Blast that's pushing through North Texas. This is a view of the condensation on my 1890's window.

There was a time when these masses of cold air were called "Northers" by the local newscasters. Now it's "Arctic" air that gets pushed into the region. I wonder if this is a result of the media's efforts to avoid offending the many people who have moved to Texas from other parts of the United States. There was a time when, if you lived further north than Oklahoma or Arkansas, you were a Northerner or "Yankee" as most Texans called them. The word was almost spat from the lips and there was always that impression that the War Between the States was neither forgotten nor forgiven when you heard the term. I know, because I myself was one of those poor pathetic Northerners who moved to Texas before the great migrations of the 80's had begun and regularly had the term applied to my being. Now that the non-native Texans outnumber the natives you don't hear the term much, but when the invasion by legal U.S. citizens began the word "Yankee" was even subdivided into 3 separate terms: a "Yankee" was someone from up north; a "damn Yankee" was someone from up north who moved to Texas, and a "god damn Yankee" was one who moved here and brought a family with them.