When you live in New England during the winter snow is a fact of life. The so-called weather futurecasts (as forward thinking weather forecasters now call them), often take priority over other news. You know, the things of lesser importance, such as the economy, terrorism, wars and politics. Weather, after all, is of vital concern to our local everyday way of life.

I, for one, am beyond delighted to read the Danvers specific weather reporting done on Danvers Patch. No longer do I have to suffer through the long-winded (pun intended) TV weather people as they dutifully report on Boston and Worcester and Cape Cod, with the occasional mention of Beverly or Gloucester if the snow is deep enough.

Danvers Patch lands right in my e-mail box every morning and I can find out what is happening with the weather (and much more) right here in my hometown. I can also get regular updates by following DanversPatch on Twitter and "liking" DanversPatch on Facebook, and so can you!

Not only was last week's blizzard reported in a timely manner, we all were treated to photos submitted from around town submitted by readers. Danvers Patch even held its first snowman/snow angel contest, giving one and all a chance to share their snow-shaping talents. It was really fun to see all the entries and the beautiful pure white snow. The snow sparkled and shimmered and neighbors greeted each other with playful snowballs as they easily cleared a path for the visitors to come and share hot cocoa by the fire.

But that is enough with the waxing poetic about winter already. I speak for many of us when I say to Mother Nature “Quit it.” I’ve been expressing that sentiment to anyone who would listen to me for the past several days. My poor husband has heard it enough that he now simply tunes me out and smiles and nods as he brings in more firewood and sands the walkway for the mail carrier for the umpteenth time.

Luckily, I do have a willing listener in my old friend Jeff. Jeff isn’t old, but our friendship is, dating all the way back to junior high in the mid 1970s. Although we didn’t even have the term "BFF" back then, and I wouldn’t have applied it to Jeff at the time, he certainly qualifies now, if only for his ability to lift my spirits out of the winter doldrums. Jeff’s a very smart guy and I believe he could do anything he set his mind to.

On Monday, he commiserated with me and came up with a solution. “I’ll build a time machine,” he told me, “and set it for 1982 Tahiti.” Now that sounds like a TARDIS straight out of TV’s “Dr. Who,” and if it worked for Dr. Who, of course it will work in real life, right? Not only could we be transported to warmth, sunshine and black sand beaches, we’d  be younger, and most likely thinner too! Hey, a girl can dream.

It is truly wonderful to have my dear friend back in my life after so many lost years. We’ve picked up our friendship as if no time has passed and that is a wonderful New Year’s gift. So now that I’ve sung Jeff’s praises, I think it will be OK for me to ask him just when that time machine will be ready.

Editor's Note: Laura Hinds is a regular columnist for Danvers Patch. You can read her childhood tales from growing up in Danvers each Saturday.