Reminding Myself

[ladysprite]

....that in the middle of all this bleak chill and snow and ice and fatigue and frustration, there are things I love about winter.

I love the way that falling snow seems to bring a hush to the world.

I love the way the first sip of hot tea feels in the cold weather, painting a stripe of warmth and life as you swallow it.

I love the stark, austere beauty of the world after ice and snow, before traffic and muck mar it all - white ground, black fingers of tree limbs against a silver sky, everything edged in crystals and more white. Landscapes like that make me understand the appeal of diamonds, reminding me of the colors and light trapped in things that seem colorless.

I love being able to cook and bake without worrying about overheating the house, and I love winter food. Chili and soup and stew and lasagna, all the things that are too hot and heavy to eat in the summer.

I love curling up next to my husband at night, under a pile of quilts and afghans made for us by friends and loved ones, and falling asleep in the circle of his arms as he keeps me warm.

I love my huge, battered, grotesquely-oversized crocheted house sweater.

I love the way that the first 50-degree day will feel like a delightfully, short-sleeves-y warm gift, instead of the frigid harbinger of doom that it did in October.

I've had enough winter, and I'm more than ready for short sleeves and gardening and ice cream, but it's good to remind myself, when I'm feeling like this, that it isn't all bad.

How about you - anything redeemable about the season at your end?


Get your own valentinr

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

The rain. I lovelovelove the Oregon winter rain, in all its forms: mist, drizzle, downpour. I love knowing it's what makes this place go green and rampant all spring and summer long. even in "drought" years; I love the sound of it on my bedroom roof. I love the way the overwintering birds splash and play in the puddles on my back patio.

And yes, along about February I begin to crave sunshine, but it will come, and the two-inch spikes of daffodil and tulip shoots peeking up in my garden carry that promise.

[metaphysick.livejournal.com]

I remember, back when I was in college, living in the Boston University West Campus dorms, how all of the trees there used to become encrusted in a very thin sheen of ice. Because the school's football field was located in West Campus, it had lights all over the place, and they were always lit up at night. When you strolled under the trees, they caught the light and it looked as though they were made of luminous crystal.

Every so often, during these cold months, I see trees like that, as I walk under a streetlight or someone comes by with high-beams on, and I remember the crystalline forests of winter.

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Walking to the Metro in cold, crisp air.

Judy-dog coming bouncing in from the back yard with snow on her nose.

[weasel2000.livejournal.com]

I love going out at night and listening to the snow fall...the hush of everything around you, the reflections of streetlights giving the whole world an orangeish glow. I love the sound of snow falling in a clump from a tree...

I love the next morning when the snow reflects the sun into a blinding brilliance that shocks your senses. the biting of the wind, the chunks that fall as you clear your car.

[crash-mccormick.livejournal.com]

Hey I'm a newlywed. Its still all amazing.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I'm off for a couple days of down-hill skiing Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday & Thursday, I'll probably be snowshoing in to a cottage and spending a night there with my sweetie.
How clear the night sky is during the winter when you get away from a city -- far clearer than in the summer. Especially on a really cold night, when the snow squeaks beneath your feet.
Doing donuts in a parking lot.