Love this piece! Sister lover of winter over here, fully aligning with your thoughts. Thank you for such a great essay -- and the audio version. So great!
Especially love your sundog reference. I've had a long love of sundogs and feel they are roundly under-appreciated among the meteorological phenomena! Not that it's a competition. But they're awe-inspiring.
Finally, really appreciate the transparency (and modelling) around your subscription contributions.
Thank you so much for sharing, fellow winter lover! TOTALLY agree about sundogs, what a miracle they are, every time.
And thank you. I’m never sure how often to mention it, or if I should share how much goes out when it does. I’d love to earn enough to make 10% practical. That’s been a goal of mine for a long time.
Yeah -- I hear you on those transparency questions! Probably no one right answer, but any signals of shifts towards a solidarity economy, or one where we are really looking after one another and our home, are useful imho! I really appreciate how you've done this. Gives me pause about where I can up my game.
PS Speaking of sundogs, since we're both on Medium, too, here's a fun snippet you might appreciate from one of my more mischievous archives. I didn't realize you were also a Regional Ambassador but now that I know, everything makes a lot more sense. :-)
That is so cool! And what gorgeous photos. Now I want to see and find even more, since I know you’re doing this. I’ll happily be an ambassador for sundogs!
Oh thank you!!! I expect we'll see a memo from the Minister soon. One of the things I love about working for this ministry is that it has *no borders*. (They learned that governance practice from birds, naturally.) :-)
I read your post about it and felt bad for you! Trying to get enough stuff for everyone’s extremities to stay warm is such a struggle. It shouldn’t be. Mittens for the people!
Yes! When they were all in elementary and went out for recess, I was sure to get them boots, snow pants, and mittens because otherwise, they couldn’t play on the playground at recess when there was snow! Last year was a mild winter, so we didn’t need those things! As soon as I get my tax refund this year, I’m buying winter gear for everyone (for the remainder of this winter and next year!)
And I don’t know about your kids, but my son used to lose gloves *all the time.* It was maddening. I finally emptied a cash jar essentially straight into a thrift store’s register and bought a pile of gloves, didn’t care if they matched or which hands because I just needed to be able to replace what he’d lost on frigid day;s!
It’s probably more important to find weather that we can all love in our own way. I get pretty grumpy in heat and humidity but know people who love it!
Hi Nia! You and I feel the same ways about winter, although I think Fall is my most joyful time - I love the colors, the changes, and of course I know Winter is next 😀. I bet you are finally getting snow as we are here. I was just in Canada skiing, were the temps were -30F with no windchill. I think I found my limits! 🤣. I too enjoy backcountry and downhill, I just love the feeling of moving over snow (even though I was born in Alabama!). Each activity brings it's own rewards and pleasures, but nothing beats a long climb with a friend or 2 up a peak, and skiing down together with no one around.
As always your writing is so lovely and beautiful and just makes we want to embrace all of Nature! Thanks for that gift. Best, Paul
I am in Canada skiing! Cross-country skiing with some friends for a couple days. It's warmer than when you were here, but still a little too cold for ease. I love the feeling of moving over the snow, too. Well, obviously. ;) I enjoy fall but winter just makes me so happy!
I too grew up downhill skiing on the east coast (you get good with ice), but "switched" to cross country in my 20s (back in the 1980s--eek!), for all the reasons you mention. These days is when there is a big dump of snow right in town (rare enough any more) it's a super treat to strap on my skis before it is light and head up the street before the plows do their thing. Swishing and swooshing through a snow-covered neighborhood is a thing to be treasured...
East coast skiing is SO different! You have all that ice and scraped-out surfaces. I didn’t do it enough when living there to get good at it, only enough to realize I’d better make better friends with my edges. We get spoiled in powder country! But oh yes, that swishing and swooshing through a snow-covered neighborhood … it’s almost exactly like walking for me, the world suddenly opens up.
Yes to those essential edges. The first time I skied in the west I was with some cousins and I was super excited about powder. Then it turned out to be one of the rare icy times in CO and I was the only one who knew how to cope. A great ego boost for shy bookish 14 year old me--for my cousins were older, glamorous and terribly sophisticated in all other ways :-)
Sometimes all we need is a bit of an icy slope to boost our confidence! Or in my case, to undermine it -- I thought I was a decent skier until I tried doing it in New York. ;)
“No matter where we originated in this world, there have always been forces and delights and entities to remind us that what we call creation or life is always in the process of becoming, and astonishing us. To feel humble before it all, and love for it all, might be our greatest calling.”
Even colder and snowier up your direction! I had to drive up to Libby and back today and it was all SO PRETTY. I wanted to pull over and just start snowshoeing any which direction!
Are you in my head?? I second everything you wrote. The only thing I would add is I get such joy when my nose hairs freeze...some weird joy from my childhood I guess. My Mantra for the last week has been "No exposed flesh"
That sounds lovely! I should experiment more with mine. Someday! I do love it. It's almost the only lotion my skin puts up with, and it's perfect for dry winter air healing.
I've never lived anywhere that gets as cold as what you've been experiencing, but I do love winter, and I do love the modest single-digit cold we occasionally get in my part of the world. It simplifies life down to good books, soups and stews, and keeping warm.
Lovely to read. I’m a fellow lover of winter too as a warmbody. Winter doesn’t phase me that much and nothing is better than sweating in under 0C while out on a run.. it’s a glorious feeling, and a beautiful mental exercise.. As a society on the other end of the spectrum, with 50C constantly in Kuwait during summer, we marvel at the people who complain of cold winters. Our first response always is: “ you go out naked for summer, but you can bundle up for winter..”
And you’re right, we don’t know how many of real winters we’re gonna have in the future.. It’s such a scary thought that...
It is a scary thought and it makes me so sad. So I try to fully enjoy every day of it I get.
And that’s exactly right! I don’t get what people who complain about winter don’t understand about that: you can only take off so many layers if you’re too hot.
I can’t remember exactly what the line is or where it came from, but “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing (or gear)” is a good thing to remember, though of course not universally true, even for cold. I’ve been in some situations I’d rather not repeat.
I've been wondering what things will be like for the Philly walk! I've only been there once, and it was in the middle of a big, luxurious snowstorm over 10 years ago.
Your reflections on the beauty and joy of winter are especially welcome this weekend in Texas, where the predominant emotion is fear. Thank you for the reminder that there is goodness there if we look for it (and especially if the power doesn't go out)!
Hoping that for you, too! It's easy for me to love being out in insane cold when I am well prepared for it, and even for power outages.
I remember 30-some years ago being in college and scoffing at southern states shutting down after getting 1/4 inch of snow, and my roommate, who was from Kentucky, reminding me that places without regular winter don't keep stocks of road sand and fleets of snow plows on call. Whereas where I'm from few people have air conditioning and it's hard to adapt to increasing summer temperatures. We all have weather we're prepared for, and weather we're not. Stay safe!
It's all crazy, isn't it? It was meant to be so much warmer today, almost up to 0, but it was back down to -27 at 8 this morning. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!
Sadly I seem to be developing the same arthritis my mother had, which makes it WAY less fun to go outside and play when the weather is cold like this. However, we're back up to a whopping +2! With Livingston winds!
I mean, can't we just have some nice snowy weeks in the 20s? Teens even?
We don’t have the same depths of cold as you all, but I’m wishing for some 20s soon 🙏🏽🙏🏽 they just cancelled school for tomorrow and it’s single digits all week 😩
What do Livingston winds make it? Like -75? (I mostly grew up in Belgrade. Wind was part of why I wasn't attracted to moving back to the Gallatin!)
I'm on that achy path with you. I try to ignore the little finger clicks, but the Raynaud's insists on being listened to. It's not fun when your favorite things cause pain! Another reason why cross-country skiing is more attractive, actually--it keeps those extremities warmer than downhill does, and I can only invest in so much heated or heatable gear.
XC definitely keeps the extremities warm! We've been ice skating some this winter -- when it's not too windy, which is also great, and fabulous for loosening up stiff hips.
I have no idea what the wind chill was -- it's so windy here I never look but yeah, -1F with a 25-40mph wind is Very Cold. I did look very Little Evie dog walking. Big headscarf, my mother's old mink, a brimmed hat on top of the headscarf! (Those furs have been dead since before I was born, and they're WARM).
Ice skating is beautiful. I'm terrible at it, LOL.
Take the furs! My mom has some of those, and she'd never take them out in public really, but they're there, and don't do anyone any good turning to dust. I was wishing for the Russian fur ear flap hat someone gave me that was probably buried in her house decades ago.
If there's anywhere you can wear ancient furs, it's Montana!
I have a whole sub-theme in this book about ice skating. It's what Midwestern kids do on weekends -- or did when I was a kid. You'd get dropped off someplace with your skates, and not picked up until dark. See also: falling through ice ...
Listened to this while driving home from another hospital visit (just follow up, no emergency) - thank you for your lovely words. On the drive up my mind was griping and whining that we had to be up before sunrise and the dash read -5 🥶 but after listening I was able to just enjoy the drive home with the the sunshine and the this-worldly snow drifts and the glistening trees 😍
Glad the hospital visit was lower-key, and that you had this-world beauty for company on the way home. 🧡
Tomorrow early morning I have to drive an hour north with my son so he can take his driving test (layers of irony there I'd just love to unpack, especially since he has no interest in getting his license and is only doing it because I'm making him), and I am going to hang onto this because I was already pre-griping! But we'll be driving northwest through mostly forest land and I know it will be gorgeous both ways.
Such a gorgeous ode to winter ❤️
Love this piece! Sister lover of winter over here, fully aligning with your thoughts. Thank you for such a great essay -- and the audio version. So great!
Especially love your sundog reference. I've had a long love of sundogs and feel they are roundly under-appreciated among the meteorological phenomena! Not that it's a competition. But they're awe-inspiring.
Finally, really appreciate the transparency (and modelling) around your subscription contributions.
Thank you so much for sharing, fellow winter lover! TOTALLY agree about sundogs, what a miracle they are, every time.
And thank you. I’m never sure how often to mention it, or if I should share how much goes out when it does. I’d love to earn enough to make 10% practical. That’s been a goal of mine for a long time.
Yeah -- I hear you on those transparency questions! Probably no one right answer, but any signals of shifts towards a solidarity economy, or one where we are really looking after one another and our home, are useful imho! I really appreciate how you've done this. Gives me pause about where I can up my game.
That is very well said. I've fumbled around how to explain what I'm doing and why, and it helps to have someone reflect that back to me!
PS Speaking of sundogs, since we're both on Medium, too, here's a fun snippet you might appreciate from one of my more mischievous archives. I didn't realize you were also a Regional Ambassador but now that I know, everything makes a lot more sense. :-)
https://blorrainesmith.medium.com/news-from-the-ministry-of-celestial-phenomena-5b985571039a
That is so cool! And what gorgeous photos. Now I want to see and find even more, since I know you’re doing this. I’ll happily be an ambassador for sundogs!
Oh thank you!!! I expect we'll see a memo from the Minister soon. One of the things I love about working for this ministry is that it has *no borders*. (They learned that governance practice from birds, naturally.) :-)
Ha, perfect! Exactly within my ethos. :)
Your photos are absolutely beautiful!! I’m not a fan of snow and cold, but your writing makes me want to love it!
I read your post about it and felt bad for you! Trying to get enough stuff for everyone’s extremities to stay warm is such a struggle. It shouldn’t be. Mittens for the people!
Yes! When they were all in elementary and went out for recess, I was sure to get them boots, snow pants, and mittens because otherwise, they couldn’t play on the playground at recess when there was snow! Last year was a mild winter, so we didn’t need those things! As soon as I get my tax refund this year, I’m buying winter gear for everyone (for the remainder of this winter and next year!)
And I don’t know about your kids, but my son used to lose gloves *all the time.* It was maddening. I finally emptied a cash jar essentially straight into a thrift store’s register and bought a pile of gloves, didn’t care if they matched or which hands because I just needed to be able to replace what he’d lost on frigid day;s!
Omg yes!!
Beautiful writing! I don't like winter, but after listening to this I'm tempted to change my mind.
It’s probably more important to find weather that we can all love in our own way. I get pretty grumpy in heat and humidity but know people who love it!
Wise words. I lean towards sunny summer days with a smooth breeze. Which in the UK means I get about 3 days of perfect weather a year!
Yeah that sounds like … Portugal coast? Or where my sister lives in Santa Cruz, California!
Hi Nia! You and I feel the same ways about winter, although I think Fall is my most joyful time - I love the colors, the changes, and of course I know Winter is next 😀. I bet you are finally getting snow as we are here. I was just in Canada skiing, were the temps were -30F with no windchill. I think I found my limits! 🤣. I too enjoy backcountry and downhill, I just love the feeling of moving over snow (even though I was born in Alabama!). Each activity brings it's own rewards and pleasures, but nothing beats a long climb with a friend or 2 up a peak, and skiing down together with no one around.
As always your writing is so lovely and beautiful and just makes we want to embrace all of Nature! Thanks for that gift. Best, Paul
I am in Canada skiing! Cross-country skiing with some friends for a couple days. It's warmer than when you were here, but still a little too cold for ease. I love the feeling of moving over the snow, too. Well, obviously. ;) I enjoy fall but winter just makes me so happy!
Have a great time, enjoy the snow and the happiness 😀!
Once I can drag them outside ... there is a lot of lingering over coffee ... not a bad thing!
Boy, do I ever agree with that 🤣!
What an absolutely beautiful piece of writing - wow. The last paragraph is just so moving - sheer poetry. Thank you
Thank you! That’s so kind. :)
This is absolutely exquisite. Thank you.
I too grew up downhill skiing on the east coast (you get good with ice), but "switched" to cross country in my 20s (back in the 1980s--eek!), for all the reasons you mention. These days is when there is a big dump of snow right in town (rare enough any more) it's a super treat to strap on my skis before it is light and head up the street before the plows do their thing. Swishing and swooshing through a snow-covered neighborhood is a thing to be treasured...
East coast skiing is SO different! You have all that ice and scraped-out surfaces. I didn’t do it enough when living there to get good at it, only enough to realize I’d better make better friends with my edges. We get spoiled in powder country! But oh yes, that swishing and swooshing through a snow-covered neighborhood … it’s almost exactly like walking for me, the world suddenly opens up.
Yes to those essential edges. The first time I skied in the west I was with some cousins and I was super excited about powder. Then it turned out to be one of the rare icy times in CO and I was the only one who knew how to cope. A great ego boost for shy bookish 14 year old me--for my cousins were older, glamorous and terribly sophisticated in all other ways :-)
Sometimes all we need is a bit of an icy slope to boost our confidence! Or in my case, to undermine it -- I thought I was a decent skier until I tried doing it in New York. ;)
“No matter where we originated in this world, there have always been forces and delights and entities to remind us that what we call creation or life is always in the process of becoming, and astonishing us. To feel humble before it all, and love for it all, might be our greatest calling.”
I love that. Winter is one of my favorites too.
Even colder and snowier up your direction! I had to drive up to Libby and back today and it was all SO PRETTY. I wanted to pull over and just start snowshoeing any which direction!
Are you in my head?? I second everything you wrote. The only thing I would add is I get such joy when my nose hairs freeze...some weird joy from my childhood I guess. My Mantra for the last week has been "No exposed flesh"
Thank you for your beautiful prose.
This is so true! Frozen nose hairs are so weirdly satisfying, why is that?!
Thank YOU for the apples. I know I already told you this but they are so incredibly good. Perfect after a lake ski!
Mi Apples es su Apples!
🍏🥰
EXACTLY! Frozen nose hairs are the best. I also like to grease up the bitts of my face that might be exposed before going out. It really helps
I make my own lotion with beeswax, olive oil, and coconut oil, and have been laying it on thick the past several days!
That's just the stuff! My olive oil component was infused with plantain during the summer too, so I pretend it is also healing whatever ails...
That sounds lovely! I should experiment more with mine. Someday! I do love it. It's almost the only lotion my skin puts up with, and it's perfect for dry winter air healing.
I've never lived anywhere that gets as cold as what you've been experiencing, but I do love winter, and I do love the modest single-digit cold we occasionally get in my part of the world. It simplifies life down to good books, soups and stews, and keeping warm.
And hot chocolate! Very important. :)
Lovely to read. I’m a fellow lover of winter too as a warmbody. Winter doesn’t phase me that much and nothing is better than sweating in under 0C while out on a run.. it’s a glorious feeling, and a beautiful mental exercise.. As a society on the other end of the spectrum, with 50C constantly in Kuwait during summer, we marvel at the people who complain of cold winters. Our first response always is: “ you go out naked for summer, but you can bundle up for winter..”
And you’re right, we don’t know how many of real winters we’re gonna have in the future.. It’s such a scary thought that...
It is a scary thought and it makes me so sad. So I try to fully enjoy every day of it I get.
And that’s exactly right! I don’t get what people who complain about winter don’t understand about that: you can only take off so many layers if you’re too hot.
I can’t remember exactly what the line is or where it came from, but “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing (or gear)” is a good thing to remember, though of course not universally true, even for cold. I’ve been in some situations I’d rather not repeat.
Happy winter!
We got a sprinkling of snow. I'm hoping more falls overnight!
I've been wondering what things will be like for the Philly walk! I've only been there once, and it was in the middle of a big, luxurious snowstorm over 10 years ago.
Philly hasn't had snow in a few years. We'll see what this year brings.
Whatever it brings, it'll be a great day. ☃️🧡
Your reflections on the beauty and joy of winter are especially welcome this weekend in Texas, where the predominant emotion is fear. Thank you for the reminder that there is goodness there if we look for it (and especially if the power doesn't go out)!
Hoping that for you, too! It's easy for me to love being out in insane cold when I am well prepared for it, and even for power outages.
I remember 30-some years ago being in college and scoffing at southern states shutting down after getting 1/4 inch of snow, and my roommate, who was from Kentucky, reminding me that places without regular winter don't keep stocks of road sand and fleets of snow plows on call. Whereas where I'm from few people have air conditioning and it's hard to adapt to increasing summer temperatures. We all have weather we're prepared for, and weather we're not. Stay safe!
So very true - we don't have the road treatment options that regular winter places do. So far, so good down here though!
I love everything about this! And oh my gosh, these photos are amazing!
Humble efforts compared to the beauties you share!
Lovely lovely Nia -- and we thought -28 overnight lows were something!
It's all crazy, isn't it? It was meant to be so much warmer today, almost up to 0, but it was back down to -27 at 8 this morning. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!
Sadly I seem to be developing the same arthritis my mother had, which makes it WAY less fun to go outside and play when the weather is cold like this. However, we're back up to a whopping +2! With Livingston winds!
I mean, can't we just have some nice snowy weeks in the 20s? Teens even?
We don’t have the same depths of cold as you all, but I’m wishing for some 20s soon 🙏🏽🙏🏽 they just cancelled school for tomorrow and it’s single digits all week 😩
That's cold enough!
What do Livingston winds make it? Like -75? (I mostly grew up in Belgrade. Wind was part of why I wasn't attracted to moving back to the Gallatin!)
I'm on that achy path with you. I try to ignore the little finger clicks, but the Raynaud's insists on being listened to. It's not fun when your favorite things cause pain! Another reason why cross-country skiing is more attractive, actually--it keeps those extremities warmer than downhill does, and I can only invest in so much heated or heatable gear.
XC definitely keeps the extremities warm! We've been ice skating some this winter -- when it's not too windy, which is also great, and fabulous for loosening up stiff hips.
I have no idea what the wind chill was -- it's so windy here I never look but yeah, -1F with a 25-40mph wind is Very Cold. I did look very Little Evie dog walking. Big headscarf, my mother's old mink, a brimmed hat on top of the headscarf! (Those furs have been dead since before I was born, and they're WARM).
Ice skating is beautiful. I'm terrible at it, LOL.
Take the furs! My mom has some of those, and she'd never take them out in public really, but they're there, and don't do anyone any good turning to dust. I was wishing for the Russian fur ear flap hat someone gave me that was probably buried in her house decades ago.
If there's anywhere you can wear ancient furs, it's Montana!
I have a whole sub-theme in this book about ice skating. It's what Midwestern kids do on weekends -- or did when I was a kid. You'd get dropped off someplace with your skates, and not picked up until dark. See also: falling through ice ...
Listened to this while driving home from another hospital visit (just follow up, no emergency) - thank you for your lovely words. On the drive up my mind was griping and whining that we had to be up before sunrise and the dash read -5 🥶 but after listening I was able to just enjoy the drive home with the the sunshine and the this-worldly snow drifts and the glistening trees 😍
Glad the hospital visit was lower-key, and that you had this-world beauty for company on the way home. 🧡
Tomorrow early morning I have to drive an hour north with my son so he can take his driving test (layers of irony there I'd just love to unpack, especially since he has no interest in getting his license and is only doing it because I'm making him), and I am going to hang onto this because I was already pre-griping! But we'll be driving northwest through mostly forest land and I know it will be gorgeous both ways.
“Every bit of it that reminds me I am an evolved animal capable of living joyously on a planet very much alive, and that I intend to do so.”