A Wintertale…in November…hmmmm…might sound a bit strange…but strange thoughts are called strange when they come in un corresponding times. Times when they are not relevant…obviously when the real season started, thoughts about Winter wouldn’t surprise anybody… but today they accidentally swirled around my mind leaving thawing scent of un seasonal associations…
I thought of Winter today…I live in a place where just a little white powder on the roads can cause havoc to the daily life and where there is never enough of the white stuff to roll up the snowman bigger then a garden gnome. But I remember Winter differently. She holds the second place in my list of favourite seasons, next after Her Majesty Fall. And not because I’ve been born right in the middle of it, but of the sweet memories of a childhood that are always the closest to the heart…
I remember Winter for the thick layer of snow, that keeps the Earth warm from November to the mid-March. Morning sounds of the wooden shovels, busy making their way through the freshly fallen masses...and masses...and I mean real M A S S E S of a soft...stunningly white...perfect snow....evenings that sometimes were brighter then a daylight, because of that special luminescence of the snow under street lights…not of the yellow hue, but of the white one…and in the lights the snow suddenly illuminates that glitter with a mystical off-blue tiny stars...
The snowfall…oh, that is unforgettable! We were blessed with the real magic of slow snowfalls…the one of a kind when you’d stand in it and just open up your arms, taken gloves off…and count snowflakes landing to your palm…snowflakes everywhere…in the air…on your hair…on your coat…gently touching face, slightly ticklish…sitting on your eyelashes, making them look like a glamour make up for a multi-million movie…they were not cold at all!
At least as kids, we never felt snow to be something one should avoid to get in contact with…the continental climate of a place provided a very mild winter. Not in terms of temperature, but in a sense of endurable conditions. The temperature would drop below -25-30 C, and that was still a point of comfort….In the mornings we would listen to the local radio with hope to hear if the school has been cancelled. And the threshold would be around -36C. And if we’re lucky that day, it would be a day of joyful playing outdoors, cheating frost. And then those weekend trips into the Altay's Mountains for sledge-skating, plastic-sheets skating and own-bottom skating...oh, that was fun!
And what about popular winter fun that so annoyed our parents – licking icicles!? LOL...Nobody could ever resist the temptation! When you have them hanging literally everywhere, in any shape, form, size…on the trees, roofs, from the lamp posts, frozen benches in a park…very young would break off the biggest icicle and play with it like with a sword…how many battles nave been won…how many Honourable Knights proved their worthiness in a dazzling whiteness of a Fairy Land! How many fantasies became possible…
There is so much I can tell about winter that I know…that I love…maybe when I was born in such a fairy season, I’ve received that gift of understanding her…of seeing her not as cold and indifferent Queen Of Ice, but as warm and friendly Snow Maiden…a faithful mate for joy, fun and for adventures into Fairy Tales…
Hmmmm…a bit early for the hymns to the next season, I guess…but as thought has happened already, I will leave it here anyway…
I thought of Winter today…I live in a place where just a little white powder on the roads can cause havoc to the daily life and where there is never enough of the white stuff to roll up the snowman bigger then a garden gnome. But I remember Winter differently. She holds the second place in my list of favourite seasons, next after Her Majesty Fall. And not because I’ve been born right in the middle of it, but of the sweet memories of a childhood that are always the closest to the heart…
I remember Winter for the thick layer of snow, that keeps the Earth warm from November to the mid-March. Morning sounds of the wooden shovels, busy making their way through the freshly fallen masses...and masses...and I mean real M A S S E S of a soft...stunningly white...perfect snow....evenings that sometimes were brighter then a daylight, because of that special luminescence of the snow under street lights…not of the yellow hue, but of the white one…and in the lights the snow suddenly illuminates that glitter with a mystical off-blue tiny stars...
The snowfall…oh, that is unforgettable! We were blessed with the real magic of slow snowfalls…the one of a kind when you’d stand in it and just open up your arms, taken gloves off…and count snowflakes landing to your palm…snowflakes everywhere…in the air…on your hair…on your coat…gently touching face, slightly ticklish…sitting on your eyelashes, making them look like a glamour make up for a multi-million movie…they were not cold at all!
At least as kids, we never felt snow to be something one should avoid to get in contact with…the continental climate of a place provided a very mild winter. Not in terms of temperature, but in a sense of endurable conditions. The temperature would drop below -25-30 C, and that was still a point of comfort….In the mornings we would listen to the local radio with hope to hear if the school has been cancelled. And the threshold would be around -36C. And if we’re lucky that day, it would be a day of joyful playing outdoors, cheating frost. And then those weekend trips into the Altay's Mountains for sledge-skating, plastic-sheets skating and own-bottom skating...oh, that was fun!
And what about popular winter fun that so annoyed our parents – licking icicles!? LOL...Nobody could ever resist the temptation! When you have them hanging literally everywhere, in any shape, form, size…on the trees, roofs, from the lamp posts, frozen benches in a park…very young would break off the biggest icicle and play with it like with a sword…how many battles nave been won…how many Honourable Knights proved their worthiness in a dazzling whiteness of a Fairy Land! How many fantasies became possible…
There is so much I can tell about winter that I know…that I love…maybe when I was born in such a fairy season, I’ve received that gift of understanding her…of seeing her not as cold and indifferent Queen Of Ice, but as warm and friendly Snow Maiden…a faithful mate for joy, fun and for adventures into Fairy Tales…
Hmmmm…a bit early for the hymns to the next season, I guess…but as thought has happened already, I will leave it here anyway…