Winter Blues

Don't you love the blue hues of winter?

Then there are the other winter blues.  Any one get those? How do you survive?
One thing that helps me is to enjoy the winter scenery.  There isn't anything more beautiful than a bright blue clear sky against the bright white mountains or snowy fields.

This tree in our backyard looks so pretty in the morning when it is frozen. Every inch of it is covered in frost. When the sun comes out it is cool to see the frost fly off the tree like snow falling.

 One thing I knew we were giving up when we moved to the valley was warmer temps.  I knew it was going to be colder up here and the snow would last longer into the spring- boo hoo-, but at the same time I also knew we would be getting more clear skies.  Here in Utah the air gets so yucky in the winter especially when it is really cold and the storms are infrequent. Here in the higher elevations of the valley we get more clear skies and less muck. Yesterday was gorgeous! I'm hoping for another day like that today.

Something that the kids and I love is the sparkles on the snow. When it is so cold and the sun is shining bright you can see the sparkles in the trees and on the snow and sometimes they are floating through the air. You've probably seen them too. We call them "magic sparkles." They always bring a smile to my
face.

Here's some magic sparkles flying through the air

Another thing that we love is ice cicles.  They are so fun especially when they are unusual or unexpected.  One time I saw a whole side of a building frozen because a water pipe had broken or something. The whole building got sprayed and then froze over.  It was quite a sight and it looked like it came straight out of a movie.  And wouldn't you know it, the building was a Hollywood Video!
    Once on a drive through N.O. divide I was looking up high on the mountainside and I saw some huge ice cicles coming down from some rocks. I had never thought of looking up so high and that's why I had never noticed them before. They looked so neat!  Almost every time I drive that way now I have to look for them.
 Last week at church as we were heading inside we saw some ice cicles sticking out of the snow near the building. They were all lined up upside down like stalagmites in a cave.  For a minute we were wondering how ice cicles could grow out of the ground but then we got smart and realized someone had put them there like that! How funny.

And last, when Christian and I were driving to tumbling a couple days ago I saw some really cool ice cicles on the side of a restaurant.  On our way home we got a closer look and still later when I was with Emma we stopped again and I took some pictures.

Here's a close up-

And here's a blurry one, but a wide view

It's like the snow sliding off the roof created several layers of ice cicles.   So cool!

Enjoying the winter scenery isn't a cure-all for the winter blues for me, but it helps.  I always need something to brighten my day. Connecting with people and getting exercise are other tools.  Overall, it can just be hard to get through. Sometimes you just have to plow through it- literally!  We will see the grass again. We will. And we wouldn't enjoy spring so much if we didn't have to get through the hard cold winter.

Oh, one more thing. My friend Emily always gives me inspiring quotes when she writes me notes and letters.  Here's one of hers for winter.

"God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December"  - J.M Barrie
(I'm not sure if that's the same one, but it was something like that)

Yes! Think happy thoughts and remember good times.

Have a wonderful, beautiful, white winter.