I’m looking outside as I write this, and what I’m seeing is what I and everybody else has been seeing for the last month or more: gray skies and swirling snow. And when I arrived at the Daily Telegraph to start my shift, I was greeted with another dose of uplifting news. We had another 6 inches of snow on the way. I mean, this is worse than the blizzard of 1993. Then we were hit with one big blast of snow, and that was pretty much it. This year, we’re getting a blizzard in installments. It just doesn’t stop.

When the gray skies don’t go away, you’ve got to grasp for every little bit of encouragement you can get. For instance, the check-out clerk who rang up my rations the last time I was in a store said that she saw flowers trying to peek out of the snow, so spring can’t be too far away.

I’m not what you call a flower person, but some outdoor color would be nice. Like everyone else, I’m tired of living in what’s become a black-and-white world. Sometimes when I look out the window, I think of that old horror movie “The Thing” featuring James Arness of Matt Dillon fame as the monster. It takes place at the North Pole and Arness plays an alien plant creature that feeds on blood. Well, a plant monster wouldn’t be bad round about now; at least we’d see some green.

This weather makes you notice any little oasis that reminds you that winter is not permanent. Recently I did a story over at GlenWood Park Retirement Village about a pair of aviaries the operators installed a few months ago. When you go into GlenWood’s lobby, you see colorful finches flying around a glass cabinet and singing songs that belong in a Disney movie set in the spring.

In a way, the aviaries are a new take on the classic aquarium; instead of watching colorful tropical fish swimming around, you get to see birds flying about and singing, which can be just as relaxing. Residents get to watch these birds every day, so they always have a nice bit of spring waiting for them. Seeing those finches was certainly a change from watching vultures circle overhead or crows pecking through the snow. Just a few minutes of watching this reminder of spring can lift your spirits a bit.

Like other people, I try to focus on hobbies like catching up on the latest exploits of Sherlock Holmes or writing stories of my own; definitely not stories about winter or snow.

A friend of mine in Florida has reminded me of a standing invitation to fly down and visit, and I know I’ll take her up on it when some vacation time opens up. The weather has been cool down in otherwise sunny Florida, but the temperatures in the 60 and 70s look downright tropical compared to what we’re experiencing. In some cases, Florida’s residents are seeing invasive species like iguanas falling out of trees because the weather has gotten too cold for them. I understand one fellow tried gathering them — probably planning to sell them as pets — only to see them revive in his warm station wagon while he was cruising down the highway. That must have been quite an awakening for him, too; iguanas can be surprisingly mean vegetarians. Only in Florida!

Thinking about my previous visits to the land where iguanas and alligators are as common as deer and bears are in the Virginias can boost my spirits a bit, too. It’s a reminder that someday winter must end.

It will end. Some weekend we won’t be greeted with another winter storm warning or waking up to see that the driveways and sidewalks we shoveled clean only yesterday are now covered in a new blanket of white. Some day we won’t have to dodge mounds of snow that are frozen as hard as concrete. Some day children will wake up knowing there will be school that morning. Road crews will have things to do other than plow yet more snow and pour more salt on the highways.

The snow will melt — hopefully without a round of flooding — and we will see dry asphalt under our tires. We will put our winter coats and gloves away and won’t have to suit up like an astronaut every time we want to go outside. We will open our windows and let in fresh air. We won’t have to try hosing another layer of salt off our cars only to see the water freeze on the windshield. Exercise won’t mean shoving another layer of snow.

And, some day, summer will arrive and we may actually complain about the heat, and winter will be a distant memory for a while. That day is coming.

Greg Jordan is a reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com.