What secret pleasures does winter hold for you?

Going outside without wanting to die.

And it’s already leaving me. It was warm out today. 75 degrees. It’ll hit over 80 tomorrow.

At least I got two days of 50s. *sigh

Fresh warm blankets, sleeping dogs, cosy sweaters & hoodies, few social commitments, warm cookies, hot showers.

I hate winter.

Knowing that spring will, eventually, show up.

Winter

Spring

Egg nog.

@gailcalled Beautiful photographs!

Wait! Wait! Did you say “Wet grass”? What the ? Where do you find wet grass? Everything is frozen solid here.

I love:
The clear skies.
Being able to split Trapezium in M42 with my 6” Newtonian.
Walking in the woods by the light of the moon and hearing the special squeak snow makes when it’s well below freezing.
Not having to cut the grass.
Making a fire in the fire pit with snow and cold at my back and heat and light on my front.
Falling asleep in the living room with the wood burner going and the room at 78F because someone “accidentally” turned off the circulation fan.
Driving in snow with the truck in 4WD and not having the tires squeal and scrape when I make a turn.
Shooting the pellet gun at the snow laden pine trees 100 yards away and watching the mini avalanches of snow fall to the ground.
Following animal tracks in the snow and seeing where the critters live.
and best of all….
No pollen allergies!

@LornaLove: Thanks. Given the house and the view, it’s hard not to get beautiful shots.

My guilty pleasure: use my favorite blanket, the thing I can never do in any other seasons.
That blanket is so thick that apart from keeping me warm in the winter, it can cover the light coming out of my mobile phone or flashlight when I surf the web or read books when I’m supposed to be sleeping :p

Frodo here: pooping on the carpet and getting away with it.

The only good things I ever found about winter were: falling snow and snow cover can be magical, and being able to leave groceries in the car while you run one more errand without worrying about the frozen food melting is a great bonus.

Winter here is total B.S. In more northerly places, people get actual snow to go with their cold weather. I’d love to be able to walk out and see snow more often- it’s beautiful!

Here (DC) it’s cold enough that you can’t enjoy being outside, and it stays grey and cloudy for 90% of the season. The most common kind of winter weather we get is “wintery mix,” which means a soupy morass of freezing rain, regular rain, slush, sleet, and miniscule amounts of snow. It’s just grey, drab, and blah all winter.

That said, it’s really satisfying to come home, get into my warmest pajamas, and drink scotch or bourbon when there’s bad weather outside. It gives me an excuse to stay in and be a lazy, pajama-wearing lush.

Also smoking when it’s cold out. It’s like walking around with a tiny little campfire.

Pretty much any vice, I guess. Winter has no redeeming qualities on its own, so fuck it, might as well splurge.

Women in furs and leather and big woolen sweaters.

The tap water is like ice water to drink.

The garage is so cold you can cool a cake or other hot food almost instantaneously.

Great excuse to lay in bed and read.

All but the very buff look better in their winter clothes.

Feeding the wild birds and watching them highlighted against the pristine white.

This year the first two storms we had where I live were amazing. The first was a lazy damp snow that piled at least an inch on the thinnest twig. Not a huge amount, and the temp stayed low for a few days, so it truly was a winter wonderland. The second was a thorough but not heavy coating of ice that glazed every blade of grass without breaking the trees. Christmas eve morning sunrise was unbelievable.

The peace and quiet of wondering into the woods on my snowshoes. No noise, no human presence, just me and Mother nature. It makes me feel so alive.

This morning, my region woke up to a ground covered by freezing rain, the most treacherous type of winter precipitation. I’ll repeat what I said to Paul maybe 10 minutes ago:

The only good thing about this winter is that it’ll pass. Winter doesn’t last forever.

By the way, no, I never complain about hot, humid weather in July. I’ll just be grateful that I’m not hiding from the cold.

Wool socks and coats.

That it can’t last forever , and clear skies ,and roads are right around the corner.

Homemade chicken and noodles, eaten in front of the big screen by the fireplace.

Snow
I love snow. It’s so purdy.

The crisp, cold air
Feels clean and bracing to me.

Not sweating like a pig.
Unlike Summer. Fuck you Summer.

What a lovely ode to winter, @cookieman, lol.

@cookieman if it weren’t for my favorite blanket winter would be a fucking asshole to me! I prefer summer

Hmmm.. Nice, warm, homemade meals. Fireplaces. Sitting at your window and looking at the snow.

Right now I’m sitting here and looking out at a clear blue sky, and I won’t complain about it either. Each Season has its own merits I guess.

@ibstubro: Winter knows how I feel about it. I don’t need to butter its bread.

@Mimishu1995: Great. I hope you and Summer are very happy together.

Long underwear! When I put on a set of C9 thermal tops and bottoms I never want to take them off.

@LuckyGuy Never? (waggles eyebrows in a Groucho way. And that’s hard for a penguin to do!)

Well,... hardly ever. I’m also never, never sick at sea.