10 things I like about winter

[layla]

There's snow on the ground, and it was almost dark already at seven freakin' p.m. when I took the dogs for a walk. Not far off are the days of getting up in the dark, driving to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. Which is why I need a list like this, to remind me not to pack up and leave.


10 Things I Like About Winter in Fairbanks

1. The beauty of it -- salmon-colored sunrises turning all the snow pink, ice crystals sparkling in the trees, fresh snow blanketing the world.

2. Long walks up frozen creeks, exploring places that are nearly inaccessible in the summer, or familiar places turned unfamiliar by a cover of snow.

3. Northern lights -- which I suppose could be considered a subset of #1, but are lovely and mysterious enough to warrant an entry of their own, especially since we have a nearly ideal location for watching them: wide-open sky with few trees blocking it, far enough from town that we don't get much light dimming them.

4. The freaky physical effects of 50 below zero: throwing pans of hot water in the air and watching them evaporate, our mysterious smoking gravel piles and the weird little creek that never freezes (still haven't really figured that one out), the way sounds carry crystal-clear for miles, car tires freezing flat and having to bump along on square tires until they warm up again.

5. Finding animal tracks in the snow and reading their "stories".

6. Making a hot cup of cocoa or tea, and putting on a warm fuzzy sweater, and looking out the window at the snow on a lazy Saturday morning.

7. Being able to spend hours and hours inside (at the computer, working on projects, watching TV) without feeling like I ought to get outside and do something. I love the contemplative nature of winter projects: baking; knitting; getting caught up on all the books I meant to read; throwing on a CD and organizing my bookshelves...

8. Christmas! But not really the day itself so much as the season -- planning, shopping, cooking, putting together boxes, hearing from people I don't normally hear from, etc.

9. Planning for all the summer projects that are much more fun to think about than actually to do.

10. New winter TV seasons. (Yes, I am a shallow, shallow fangirl.)

Comments

[naye]

You're making me want snow! I thought I didn't, since it's still just October, but now I do.

Because it really is beautiful and wondrous... Of course, here winter is more likely to do tricks like turning a lovely new coat of snow into brown slush than to evaporate boiling water, but still! The cozy warmth and light inside, the amazing way the light reflects from the snow at night, the long blue twilight, the way objects along familiar paths are replaced with mysterious shapes - I really hope we get a lot of snow this winter! ♥

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Hee! I really like winter, which I guess is sort of a self-defense mechanism because otherwise I'd have to be suicidally depressed seven months out of the year, and snow is a big part of that. Unfortunately Fairbanks doesn't tend to get fluffy, sticky, picture-postcard, snowball-making snow. Our snow is textured more like sand. But it's very lovely nonetheless, for all its lack of snowball capability.

(And yes, the long blue twilights -- I love those!)

[ldragoon.livejournal.com]

That's good x-country skiing snow though, isn't it?