Winter Wonderland

It’s all about winter this year …. Winter everywhere … snow where there never has been any …. Mounds of snow in places …. Lack of snow in others.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love winter.   Now I know for those of you in Ontario's snowbelt who are probably looking at four meters of the stuff at the end of this storm, you may not agree with me....however I do just love winter!

I love the softly falling snow as it piles and mounds in drifts….. I love the howling winds as it blows snow all over obliterating vision and closing roadways. I love the crisp cold …. The real minus zeros … you know down below the minus 20’s.  I love Arctic blizzards. I love to hear the snow crunch under my boots, to climb snowy hills and toboggan down on my backside …. And yes, I did just that a few years ago with my niece and her youngsters. They had toboggans I had my behind.   I love trekking frozen landscapes where access without frozen ground is not so easy. 

I love to shovel the snow and feel the exhilaration of exercise well won. Just love the way cheeks turn red, love to inhale the cold, cold air. Climbing up hillsides with the snow waist deep …. Building snowmen taller than we could reach. Cutting blocks from wind hardened drifts to build snowforts,  making snow angels, playing pie tag in stamped out circles on the snow.  I will always be a child in winter.

The range of blues, pinks and yellows found in snowy landscapes cannot be found at anytime of year …. And it all depends on the lighting and time of day.

I liked to share some winter pictures taken by my sister near Owen Sound last year after a one evening snowfall.  Nothing perhaps to what some of you are currently experiencing ... strictly for enjoyment.

 Twigs .... just twigs weighted down.  Truly a 'marshmallow world'.

 Looking out over the hillsides near Owen Sound  - You can feel the silence.

What can I say .... just a picture postcard.

Now how about this .... a leafless weeping willow tree in my sister's sideyard.

I look out the bedroom window
Smoke curls from chimneys in the air
Winter sun just rising with a pale
Glistening glow... everywhere.
I watch the myriad snowy diamonds
change from blue to yellow to white
I watch the snowy colours twinkle
To emeralds bright with evening glow and night
As I ski through forests silent
Surrounded by mountains of white
I stop and listen to the silence
And allow it to lighten my spirit
This winter landscape
Pristine and pure and bright
                                                        Winter snow

It engulfs my very being
Absorbs my very soul
Fills me with wonder and awe
I am blessed to share this silent world
My senses newly awaken to
the wonders that surround
Alone in this boisterous wintery world