Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thoughts, winter on February 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“In reality, Little Ones, there are two winters. One made for kids; the other for adults. The one made for adults is always too cold and always too long. The one made for kids is always perfect. A kid winter is an endless and wild snow carnival where all the rides are free.”
— Carew Papritz
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #ShovelSafely, Thoughts, winter on January 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I’m sad to say that my part of Canada is a little short on snow at the moment, but that isn’t true for many parts of North America.
If you happen to live in one of the regions recently hit with unusual amounts of snow, and you find yourself wondering how to tackle it without needing physical therapy after, you may find these tips useful!
Stuck shoveling snow? Tips to safely shovel snow and walk on ice
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Posted in Holidays, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, astronomy, genre fiction, solstice, Thoughts, winter, winter-solstice on December 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Greetings, fellow space travelers! Today is the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere’s shortest day of the year.
Winter solstice 2024: How to celebrate the start of winter – NPR
“At 4:20 a.m. EST, the solstice marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere,” NASA says on its website.
That means from now until the end of June, each day will get a little bit longer — and brighter…
Read the full article for some fun facts on the solstice, plus a link to solstice-themed music, food and writing, including work by beloved children’s author Susan Cooper (my brother and I loved The Dark Is Rising).
Today is also the official start of winter, and the temperature is dropping like a rock in a gravity well. Stay warm, it just gets brighter from here!
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, notes, weather, winter on November 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Today marks our very first flecks of snow, quite small and not anywhere near accumulating, but snow nonetheless.
According to Extreme Weather Watch: The earliest in the season it has snowed in Ottawa, Ontario is October 8 which happened in 1979.
Noted here for posterity.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, inspiration, poem, Thoughts, winter, Writers, writing on October 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I am committing poetry today, apparently.
frost crawls down rooftops
cold crystals reach out for warmth
winter’s first trespass
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #groundhogday #punxsutawneyphil, Groundhog Day, Thoughts, winter on February 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Today is Groundhog Day and despite Phil’s prognostications in Gobbler’s Knob, I find myself hoping for more winter.
I’ve never been a big fan of the cold, but it’s the beginning of February and crazy warm here. Rain is the order of the week. Winterlude, Ottawa’s big celebration of winter, starts today and the Rideau Canal is closed to skaters for safety reasons, and I’m wondering if all the ice sculptures are going to melt.
And so I find myself wishing for more snow and celebrating the winter we have left.
Sorry, Phil!
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Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, science, snow, snowstorm, Thoughts, winter on January 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Winter has finally arrived in the Northeast, and it is making a serious splash.
We wanted a white Christmas, but that didn’t happen around here; Nature is making up for it now. We’ve had multiple storms this week complete with snow, sleet, ice and rain (sometimes all at once) and expect a significant snowstorm to hit this weekend.
That has me investigating weather reports, flexing my shoveling muscles, and generally catching up on all things snow. Here are a few of the interesting articles I found:
Science of Snow | National Snow and Ice Data Center
Snow forecasts are better than they used to be, and they continue to improve, but snow forecasting remains a difficult challenge for meteorologists. One reason is that during intense snows, the heaviest snowfall can occur in surprisingly narrow bands, and on a smaller scale than observing networks and forecast zones can see. Also, the extremely small temperature differences that define the boundary line between rain and snow make large differences in snow forecasts. This is part of the fun and frustration that makes snow forecasting so interesting.
Winter storm hits East Coast. What’s in a snowflake? (transcript)
“So a snowflake that was more than a foot across. Is that, like, even possible?”
How to Shovel Snow Safely – This Old House
Freezing temperatures often bring snow, sleet, and ice. And removing that messy wintry mix from your walkways and driveways is no easy feat. Here is the best way to shovel snow to prevent injury and lessen your workload.
What’s Wrong With This Snowflake? (transcript)
Koop thinks ice crystals are masterpieces of natural beauty. Unfortunately, he says, “This beauty is sometimes corrupted.”
Seeing Snowflakes As ‘Hieroglyphs from the Sky’ (transcript)
“It’s been said that snowflakes are like hieroglyphs from the sky…,” says Libbrecht, an astrophysicist and chairman of the physics department at the California Institute of Technology. “In the shape of the crystal is encoded the conditions under which it grew.”
And for when snow stops being fun and starts getting real: United States Power Outage Map.
Time to charge up our phones, laptops, power banks and car. Stay safe and warm!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, memories, thanks Mom and Dad, Thoughts, winter, yay on March 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It’s Saturday and we woke to a world of deep, quiet snow. It took me back to childhood and to one book in particular, Ezra Jack Keats’s award-winning classic, The Snowy Day. Here it is, presented with animation and narration:
Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people’s legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.
– Sarah Addison Allen, “The Sugar Queen”
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, Thoughts, winter, Writers on February 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“covered in snow
the trees rest in
winter silence”
― Meeta Ahluwalia
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Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Thoughts, winter, writing on December 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
One of the secrets, and pleasures, of [creating] is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed.
— Julia Child
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J.R. Johnson 
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