An old fashioned winter.

  This year has seen a return of what we older members of society fondly recall as an old fashioned winter. That is one with lots of snow that is not melted by rain soon after it falls.The lakes and rivers freeze over and you see people out playing on the ice. It has been just such a winter for us this year.
  You might think it would be problematic having a snowy winter when you live in a cottage in the woods, but it seems to be just the opposite. This winter has been a great winter to be able to get out and enjoy the best that the winter season has to offer. The roads are frozen and the potholes are filled smooth with ice. The lakes are frozen solid and there is snow to play in, once the shoveling is done.

  This year has allowed us to get out our ice cleats,snowshoes and our skis and go for hikes on roads that at another time are wet, muddy and swampy.
  It allows us to get a perspective of cottage life that is not often experienced. Winter in the country is a beautiful time of the year. It is quiet, clean, peaceful; and you have the sense of having the world to yourself. It is hard at times to believe that you have neighbours at all. After a long ski on the lake it is so quiet that it feels that you can hear your heart beating and the freshly invigorated blood flowing through your veins. It gives you a fresh lease on life, the crisp clean air, the squeak of frost as you tramp through the snow, the low booming of the ice on the lake and the smell of woodsmoke in the air. The last one is sometimes the best, because you know that you will soon be able to curl up in front of a nice warm fire to warm your chilly nose and wiggle your toes in your wool socks as you settle in to read a few more pages of your favorite book as a few flurries drift slowly to the ground painting the area with a new coat of purest white.
  This winter has also brought some of the most beautiful sunrises that I can ever remember. The sky painted in so many hues of red, reflected on the ice or snow so that at times it seems as though the world is on fire. The show is fleeting, last such a few short minutes that you are amazed that you can experience so much beauty in so short a time. It is sad to see the colors fade, but you know that in a few days you will be treated to another of mother natures greatest shows. It truly makes it worth waking up for, to experience the beauty of nature in the morning.
   Night time is another chance to experience the majestic beauty as the moon on a fresh dusting of snow makes the countryside seem to glow with reflected silvery light. The trees, bare of leaves casting ghostly crisp shadows on the snow is a stark contrast to the fiery birth of the day, but no less beautiful.
  The sights, sounds and smells of a fresh clean winter are ever changing. And far from feeling claustrophobic,  we find that the beauty of winter is enlivening and full of new experiences. We never have to worry about cabin fever when there is so much to experience. We wonder how we will ever find the time to get to do everything that is on the menu of things to do on the winter. Winter seems to offer as many choices of activity as summer does, and many of them seem to revolve around the lake, regardless of the season. Retirement has allowed us the time to relax, sit back and enjoy the beauty around us.
  Instead of hating winter, we are reveling in it, but like all things it comes to an end. We love all seasons and each one is just long enough to enjoy and also long enough to make us look forward to what is around the corner. We love each season as it comes and love the change that a new one brings. Winter will soon be gone, so enjoy it while it is here.