After weeks of unending rain and gray skies, I glimpsed a small patch of blue sky. I threw on my parka, leashed the dog and we scurried to the beach. By the time we got there, that tiny sliver of blue went back into hiding. Still, the beach was ours, with not another person or dog in sight.

While the dictionary defines “gray matter” as the essential tissue in your brain that allows you to interact with the world around you, we year-rounders have a different definition: