Winter is Back

After spending a couple days with the windows and doors open, it feels extra cold this morning. Winter is not quite ready to make her exit, which is fine as long as we get at least one snow fall out of this return of chilly weather.
When I was a wee one, all of 4 feet tall, the snow was so deep. Heaps of the white stuff on either side of the sidewalk as tall as any proper mountain range. I thought for years that it must have snowed more in those days, forgetting to take into consideration that I was about a foot shorter than I am now. Winter seems so magical. The earth, covered in white sparkling crystals. Dream like is the silence, the hush, that accompanies this blanket of purity. Of course I remember the down side, the driving in it, the shoveling of it, but still the beauty remains if you choose to look at it, choose to take a walk out in it, bundled up against the cold.
My idea of a perfect trip would be to find a cabin in the mountains, snow everywhere, sip hot chocolate by a big fireplace, snow shoes hanging up, ready to be used. Of course Emery is more the sun filled beach with palm trees all around him kind of guy, so not sure my ideal vacation will happen any time soon. We are certainly opposites on weather preferences, which we joke about often. He grew up on a wheat farm in Kansas, said he had plenty of cold and snow in which there were more chores than play. So he had his fill of snow. Not me, I played in it as a child and hiked in it as a young adult. Snapping photos at every chance.
I want to plant pine trees all around our land and he would like some banana trees. So far the pine trees are winning !
In thinking about winter, its mostly comes down to our attitude about it. We choose if we want to complain about it, or if we want to embrace the beauty of it. Children like winter because they take advantage of the fun it provides. Unless you have recently taken a walk for pleasure, just after the snow stopped falling, when all is silent, no foot prints to be found except for maybe the tiny little bird tracks left by the bird feeders, then you have missed seeing the beauty and magic snow brings. I would love some real winter weather to go exploring in, bright mittens on my hands, with strings attached, running across my back and down each sleeve.

winter pictures from the past, not this year : (