Friday, January 25, 2008

It's a Winter Friday Five

Singing Owl from Revgalblogpals says:

Brrrr! Baby, it’s COLD outside! At least that is the case where I am this morning. We are in a January deep freeze. Have a cup of hot tea and tackle five easy seasonal questions.

1. What is the thermometer reading at your house this morning?
Well, not in the house, but in the car the reading was 2 degrees this morning! Which is a significant increase from 13 below, the low on Wednesday night, when even the dog didn't want to go out.

2. Snow—love it or hate it?
I Love looking at it, but HATE shoveling it, sliding around on it and getting stuck in it. Is that called a Love/Hate relationship? Before cars, my feelings were much less complicated!

3. What is winter like where you are?
Looooong and cold. Sometimes it begins in the middle of November and lasts until the middle of April.

4. Do you like winter sports? Any good stories?
Sadly, I'm not much of a winter sports nut. It's too cold. I used to like to go sledding, when I was a kid. I'm not good at ice skating. I've tried cross-country skiing once or twice. I think I would like it, and it's good exercise. But, it's COLD, you know.

5. What is your favorite season, and why?
Summer. Summer is Minnesota's reward for surviving winter. We are silly in love with summer here. The whole state is, I think. Personally, I like the summer sports, like swimming and hiking. Other Minnesotans, weigh in, if you like.

Bonus: Share a favorite winter pick-me-up. A recipe, an activity, or whatever.
Hmmm. This will tell you something, but our favorite activity is going to Arizona for a week. Last year we also took a couple of days and stayed in a historic hotel. Happened to go right as we were getting a blizzard. It made the days fun. We got massages, and I got a manicure, and we went swimming. Sadly, we did have to shovel our cars out when we came home.

Another story: a few years ago, when I served in South Dakota, we had a terrible winter. I planned an intergenerational "I Hate Winter" Party at the indoor pool of a nearby town. Unfortunately, the "I Hate Winter" party had to be postponed because of a blizzard.

12 comments:

LoieJ said...

Benefits of winter in Minnesota: no poisonous snakes, no (or few) parasites in the soil, no lions, tigers, elephants, or hippopotamuses.

If you are not in the city: the snow actually stays white. As in "washed white as snow."

When the sun shines, the snow can sparkle like diamonds!

Relatives from the south don't come to visit.

Teri said...

LOL at the postponing the winter-hating party!
Also, traveling somewhere away is one of the only ways I get through winter. Sadly, digging my car out of the airport parking lot when I return is a harsh way to come back to reality!

Jan said...

I've forgotten how cold it is way up north. Pretty snow, but I agree it's awful to dig out of it. But you have nicer other seasons than we do in south Texas!

Shawna Atteberry said...

Postponing a winter-hating party for a blizzard. Oh my--that is funny.

Sista Cala said...

MN sounds like a great place to visit in the summertime. I have several blogger friends that live up that way. Who knows, maybe I can squeeze in a trip to MN this summer.

RevAnne said...

Snickering at the irony of the postponed "I hate winter" party!

Unknown said...

Oh, what a great bonus story!

RevDrKate said...

Indeed! Maggie says so too about going out in the cold, Scout!

Love those extra benfits, too, p.s. I also hear the extreme cold kills germs! We all are pretty hardy up here.

leah said...

i'm right there with you on the cold, but also agree on summer as a wonderful reward for surviving (and probably thriving) through a season of winter anywhere, not only in minnesnowta. my only visit to mpls-st paul was in august, and everything about it was simply glorious--yep, even the convention i was attending! be blessed!

Jennifer said...

Fun bonus story!!!!!

Terri said...

LOL - isn't that the way it works - cancelling a summer in winter (or winter hating) party because of weather - could happen in Chicago, just a few hours south.

I too really do not like the cold...may be that we will run into one another in Arizona one of these days....

June Butler said...

The temperature this morning was 46 degrees, which is winter for us. It does get colder. I'm already looking for spring. Today I bought two throw pillows with palm trees on them.

I don't like cold weather. Snow is pretty, but, on the rare occasions when it snows here, everything grinds to a stop.