What is the perfect winter climate? People who have always lived in the North or the East might yearn for the escapist image of a winter with palm trees and warm ocean breezes, such as the west coast of Mexico.

For my part, the perfect winter is brisk, sunny and dry. Snow is great up in the mountains, overlooking town. There is such a thing as the romance of snow, as this photo from the Boonie-bro' of Spokane, WA, proves:


But in a town that I live in, I want hassle-free mobility on dry ground or pavement.

I use to worry about making it through a winter that was too cold to ride a bicycle. But a chilly winter offers a substitute for cycling. Walking is pure bliss on a cold winter day, and only then.

Walking is different from a recreational hike. The latter is nice, but it's contrived and sterile compared to a purposeful walk to perform one of the tasks that makes life possible. Like walking to the grocery store. It's a type of hunting.

Are we that much different from a dog running through the snow, across a field? His joy is purposeful--he is hunting. He is not trying to burn calories, lower his cholesterol or ogle pretty scenery.

It is a bit strange to blast into the grocery store like the north wind, and feel so charged up. The eyes are bright as ice cubes. The cheeks are red. Sometimes I notice people looking at me in a funny way. Are they admiring the healthy vitality of a winter walker, or are they just staring at my funny-looking stocking hat, which doesn't fit southern New Mexico?

The winter walker enters the store enveloped by a dense blanket of animal joy that congeals the air around him. It sloughs off of him, sinks, and spills out onto the grocery store floor, like in the freezer aisles. But after a minute or two in the grocery store I start to get nauseous from the heat and background music.

It's hard to believe that my physiology is all that different from other people, so why is walking so rare in America? Only a few unter-mensch walk, presumably  because they have no choice.

This makes me think of the Happiness industry in general. In America it might need a government bailout. You could divide this declining industry into "hardware" and "software."

The Happiness software industry comprises novelists, psychologists, theologians, philosophers, self-help gurus, and other charlatans. The Happiness hardware industry comprises physiology, medical science, youth, health and exercise. You can guess which half I'm loyal to.