It takes me a while every year… to get used to the idea of winter.
…maybe it even takes a little longer every year.

I think the last few winters have been difficult to appreciate because we never got the real cold. This year we actually had that week or more of weather where it never got above 10 below zero and some lows overnight approaching 40 below.
Once that weather passes, you can walk outside on a nice sunny day with temps about 0 and realize how absolutely amazing winter can be.

We had some nice fluffy snows this past week and both times followed by a day of sunshine and temps about 10 degrees above zero.
One day I struggled with my dinosaur of a snow blower, finally getting it started at the expense of a couple days of back pain and was trudging up and down our hill behind it… at some point I stopped and shut it off, (somewhat reluctantly, I never know if it will start again), to fill it with gas and that’s when I realized… There were still some flakes, though the sun was out. They were more falling out of the trees and floating down than coming from the sky…

You can’t help but just smile at the wondrous world we live in.

As I get older, my comfort zone narrows. I want life to somehow be easy. Haven’t I earned that yet?
But, I know there is value in the struggle. I am constantly reminded of that. I think that is what winter is for. That’s what keeps things in perspective.

They are predicting another foot of snow today… I’m strangely OK with that.

… I have a few pictures here of the snow carvings in the park for the Ely Winter Festival.