12 reasons i love Winter

Sometimes I find myself having to apologies because I love winter. There are a great many things that make winter wonderful! 

1st snow, many animal prints, me following in Tom's step (my boot makes pretty flower prints in the snow:)

It’s not just a New England thing, even here people don’t like winter and complain about the snow & cold, longing for summer.

I’m a winter person. 
Actually I like all four seasons and I’m thankful I still live in a place that has all four. You will not hear me complain about winter. (Okay full disclosure here,  there are those days in March when it gets windy & slushy & raw & dirty ... )

A dozen reasons to embrace winter: if you can’t love it, at lease try to enjoy it

• When you take a walk in winter and get thirsty, you can eat snow. (just not the yellow stuff!) But in the summer if you forget your water bottle, it may be a long hot thirsty walk until you get relief!
• You can always get warm, whereas you cannot always get cool. This is especially true for sleeping ... Winter- pile on cozy blankets, socks and Pj’s!! Summer- there are those nights that nothing helps. (exception is u have central AC & never leave home.)
• If you take a walk in winter and get hot, you can unzip your jacket, take off your hat, unwrap your scarf...in summer you just get to sweat until you get to water or AC.
• Bugs - Okay, so some bugs can live through winter, but the bugs that don’t die are pretty much inactive. And you have to admit it is truly nice having a season without ticks, flies, and mosquitoes. 
• Germs - while cold air doesn’t kill bacteria it slows down their growth and they reproduce very slowly. (maybe you should keep that bedroom window open a crack!) 
• White winter snow! The first snow storm of the year, falling snow and that short time right after a snow fall, before anyone walks on it or it melts...beautiful! 
• Winter has; Hockey, Ice skating, Sledding, Snowmen, Snow sculptures, Snow forts, Skiing, Snowshoeing, Ice fishing, and Snowmobiling, just to name a few.  
• Some are free & most are family friendly. Plus you are never to old for snow ball fights!
• You get to wear cozy sweaters and great boots!! 
• And Hats! even if you think you don’t look good in a hat, with so many to choose from, keep looking there really is one for even you!
• Hello, Hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire (we have no fireplace here and have yet to find a coffee shop or restaurant that has one, oh but that image! Always something to look forward too.) 
• There is nothing like taking a walk in the still time, usually right after a good snow storm. So quite, so pretty. (Bonus: free exercise)

Okay I'll stop at 12. 
Above photos are from our first walk after the first snow fall here last week. 
 I do think the hardest part of winter is getting outside, yes there might be no snow or too much?, it could be icy and it is very cold out there! Put on your cosy clothes...
As I write this it is snowing and the top of the pine tree has lots of chickadees...waiting for me to throw them some bread. This photo is my view right now from the LR slider to our back yard, (that's our shed). I get lots of song birds, so I'm thinking of getting a feeder..but I'm NOT fond of the morning doves (really just gray pigeons, a name thing!)...might have to take the good with the bad!

 I like summer too, but if I had to chose to take a vacation in just one, it would be winter. Can't you just picture it . . . way up North, in the mountains, with a cosy fireplace, awesome comfort food & hot chocolate, outside sports and activities, with a spa for after . . .

To Think about: God thought of everything! ICE FLOATS!
*Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft, white, and fluffy structure, unless subjected to external pressure. Snowflakes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Types that fall in the form of a ball due to melting and refreezing, rather than a flake, are known as hail, ice pellets or snow grains. (*Wikipedia)
You do know if ice was not an exception you could not skate, all the fish would die...

Fact:

Because water close to freezing, for example at 0.1 °C has less density than water at 1 °C, the colder water floats to the surface. As a result, water freezes from the top down. Water is one of only a handful of substances which, after a certain point, expands as it gets colder. This means that if we drop a frozen substance into a liquid of the same substance, it will sink. As we can easily observe, water does not follow this simple rule of thumb. http://www.portageenv.com/community/pp/ice.aspx

Practical Tip:

If you hike in freezing temperatures with a water bottle, close the top tightly and place the bottle upside down in your pack. This way, ice will form in the “top” of the bottle, which is really the bottom of the bottle, and your cap won’t freeze shut.