Yes, I still like winter. But I think I like it in a different way than other folks do.
When I had to wear a skirt and heels to work, I hated winter. When I lived in urban areas, I disliked winter and cold. After all, the snow was pretty for a few hours, then the snowplows came through. Where I lived when I was young, the city had garbage trucks double as plows.
Once in a while the city drivers would plow a car's side. That was winter in the city. Folks would dig out their parking spot and deposit a chair in their place on the street when they left. The chair was a way of reserving your spot and hard work. It didn't always work.
When I moved where I am now in 1996 all of that changed and the seasons somehow became more interesting.
I became a winter lover. A person who loves the cold and the snow.
I learned how to be comfortable in a rather hostile environment. Believe me, it does take a bit of prep. For me, it is worth it as I can see things that most others don't.
I also live in an area where I can avoid the winds that chill a person through to the bone. The valleys provide warm sunny areas out of the winds even when it is well below freezing.
I stopped by the ice wall which is growing by leaps and bounds. Ground water seeps out of the top of the rock and sandstone and freezes as it makes its way towards the creek below.
The sun was bright and the light reflected off the ice was bluish. On other days it is more dull with other colors depending on how much soil and sand it has gathered.
I hiked out of the valley and into the bright sunlight. I found a spot out of the wind and sat in the snow just to listen and observe. I could hear a chickadee in the forest and a red tail hawk.
I'll tell you a little secret. I found that if I wear my goggles with my glasses on, the glasses fog up. So I take the glasses off and stick them in my camera bag. The dark lenses of the goggles protect my eyes from the glare of the snow.
I can see well enough in the distance and what I am walking over that the lack of the glasses isn't bad at all.
There I was sitting when the hawk soared over me. I pulled out my camera and stuck it to my eye. There was no time to pull out my glasses, so I depended on the cameras Autofocus:
Not too bad.
I'd done the same thing when I saw a deer while walking in the creek. Mind you, it isn't a perfect shot, but considering I did it without any visual aids other than knowing I'd placed the AF focus point directly in the middle:
For close up work or menu adjustments, I need those glasses on. However, it was pleasing to see that the AF worked better than I thought it would.
Cold weather is not for everyone. However we grew up playing in it.
Me age?
It takes a certain kind of nut to enjoy the cold.
Wednesday is supposed to be 39 or 40? Eeeks!
Time to get out the shorts!
Gosh 40 degrees? Practically Balmy. I enjoy so much more now that I don't have to drive to work in the morning. Our street was never plowed before I left for work. The easiest drive was when I worked out of town because the plows and salt trucks usually had one lane done on the highway. If I could merge just right, I could get behind a semi and try to drive in their tracks. The worst was when I got home and the plows had snow drifts piled high in front of my driveway. Do I try to mow them down and get stuck? Or do I hope no one hits me in the road while I try to break down the drifts. I'm not quite up to enjoying it from outside the window yet.
ReplyDeleteWe had 40 degrees! I was sweating in the valley and had to carry my coat!
DeleteI sat on the porch and watched my mules sleep in the sun.
It has been a few years since I lived where the driveway was plowed in.
One winter I did walk to the mail box with snowshoes on and the mailbox was below my knees buried in a solid drift.
That was some blizzard!
Thanks for stopping in!
I shocked how much I have wimped out as an adult. I used to LOVE the snow and ice. Ice fishing, hunting, even camping in the snow... never mind the sledding and skiing I did in the army. Fun stuff. But now I just hate that cold Iowa wind. Even dressed up it cuts you. I am very happy we don't live in a city though. Never liked all that slushy snow. Sometimes I think I loved Alaska snow far better than any of these lower 48 winters.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Kenosha the winds from the lake or from the west across all that flat were brutal and not fun. Clothing has come a long way towards making winters more tolerable. But I get it.
DeleteSo many dislike winter.
Winter does present its challenges, but it also has plenty of beauty to make it bearable. The hush of the falling snow, the sun glinting on the snow crystals making them shine like diamonds, snow covering all the trees and plants like winter coats, even just the stillness of the landscape reminding us to stop and chill out ourselves. The harshness of winter is also a reminder of our mortality and how dependent we are on the thgings of this world that keep us safe.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes snow is incredible. My father and I used to x country ski in the middle of the night in subzero weather over long lake. We loved seeing the Snow Diamonds in the moonlight.
DeleteI liked snow much more when I was a kid! Some people like it more than others, and you are correct you have to dress right! Love those goggles! They are perfect for you! That is one pretty ice wall!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, as kids we never seemed to get cold. I didn't like winter for a time, but now it enchants me again.
DeleteI got those blue goggles to protect my eyes from the bright snow and I have an old yellow pair that are great when it is dull outside.