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!