Oh my!!! Just one state over... that 1st pic could have been taken in my backyard. Still pretty even tho- I've lived here all my life. Teaching DD1 how to drive in it...

That is so beautiful! As a native Californian who turns blue at 60 degrees, I am of the opinion that snow -- especially snow that pretty! -- should be visited once a year.

PS It's 80 degrees right now.

I'm with you blue... so beautiful to look at and even see... but after living up north for the first 40 years of my life... I don't think I could live/drive/shovel it anymore. The great news is my oldest boy moved back up to NY so I get to go visit and enjoy anytime I want and then come back to 65 degree winters. I had a conversation with him today while taking him to the airport for him to return home to NY about how each area of the country has it's own special beauty. I haven't seen enough of this glorious land yet but it's on my "bucket list"!

I'd live in winter all year round, if I could. Sort of a reverse snowbird [people who fly south for the winter], I'd follow the snow where ever it leads...

Here it is, the first of December and I still haven't been skiing.

It's lovely, certainly, but after 40 years in Chicago--well, I have to say I don't miss the snow. California's Central Coast is Paradise!

I was born in Ohio...."kids I walked to school with drifts higher than my head" LOL...I was a little girl !

We had a high of 47 this AM and terrific winds here in Central Alabama . Atlanta where DD and DS2 are had flurries...winter like this is as much as I want ! But I LOVE those pictures. c

Hi Lukki, how have you been? Did you post pictures of your kitchen yet? Did I miss them? Hope all is going well.

Yes the snow is nice to look at, but give me a nice warm beach and a tropical breeze and I'm in heavean....I guess when you live in an area where you snow is the norm (NY) in the winter it becomes more of a pia. But it's nice to see you still appreciate it's beauty.

Very pretty and I am so glad it is up there in Michigan and not where I live! Being a native Californian, I found out I abhore, lothe, dispise, abominate snow! Especially snow and ice on hills. After living (through the two worst winters in history) north of Seattle (try driving hills like San Francisco on ice with no salt nor snow plows) and having to commute 60 plus miles a day in the stuff, I am very glad to not be there and back to California.

However yesterday and today, my commute looks somewhat like your picture--only replace deep, dense fog for the snow. Ugh! Looks like we will be a close to 0 visability all week. It doesn't even lift in the daytime. Makes for an extremely nasty commute. On the bright side, it is one less day I have to commute in the stuff until retirement--whenever that is!

Can I move in with you Lukki? I love snow! After living all of my life in Virginia Beach and now in North Carolina, I don't see nearly as much snow as I'd like. We did have a freak blizzard when we lived in the Raleigh area about 7 or 8 years ago but other than that, we mostly just get a dusting every now and then. We are near the mountains in NC and they have a lot of snow up there right now! Maybe it's time for a trip to go snow tubing!

I'm hoping there will be plenty on the ground when we go up to Niagara Falls for New Year's.

Thanks for sharing!
Robin

I love it too, lukki! I'm a life long midwesterner and, tho my husband hates snow, I love it! Each season has something special; I love the changes in each season. Your view is beautiful!

Lukkiirish:

Inferring that, by your screen name, you share the same heritage of Irish
descent as I do, I say - God Bless You, and may you experience that same sense of
awe & wonderment EVERY TIME that you see a scene like you have shared -

I on the other hand, grew up in Wisconsin, and have been out here in Arizona
for the last 16 years - exactly for the opposite reason - to ESCAPE - the aftermath
of having that same sense of awe & wonderment -

SHOVELING SNOW...HA!!! ;-)

On the other hand.............

Sunshine - on a warm December day - like yesterday - 72 degrees and
not a cloud in the sky - is WAY EASIER to SHOVEL and much nicer on MY BACK!!!! HA!!!!

Really nice pics though - thanks for sharing - brings back good memories..
some anyways..... good times good times.....

kevin

That is just SO beautiful. I grew up in Ohio and we had snow pretty often. I really miss it. I live in South Carolina now and we don't get "real" snow very often. usually it is just some flurries and an occasional accumulation that is gone in a day or so. The last really good snow we had was probably 8 years ago and I loved every second of it. I wanted to stay outside all day, walking in the woods and enjoying the beauty and wonder of it.

Not to be a kill-joy, but wait until you have to shovel the driveway and front walk a few times....not to mention blowing drifts. The novelty will wear a bit thin.

Native Minnesotan here, and have got to say that while winters can be long....it is beautiful each time the earth gets a new coating. Enjoy!

BTW, Dr. Zhivago is my all-time favorite! I had a feeling you were going to post something with snow in your HOUSE (remember that scene?)

Thanks for the comments! I too was raised in Southern California, hot summers, warm winters and seasons without personality so this is amazing to me. Until I saw it first hand, I thought the color of fall leaves on fake plants at Michaels were exagerated and snow on the trees in movies were fantasy, it was so fun to see it firsthand! Yes, the bitter cold is shocking, it's weird to see lakes iced over, and I'm still not used to taking pictures that look like black and white stills, but it's something I think everyone should experience and I LOVE IT!

Kevin, yup! Good guess! I'm definately of irish decent! Have the big family to prove it! HA!

Owls4me - Hello neighbor!!! Good luck with DD, I don't envy that job at all and hope it goes well (and safely)!

Mustbnuts, I don't miss the fog..it was so dangerous, but then again, black ice..urgg..I do miss one thing about California and that's the variety of shops. I was amazed when I saw how much money I could save (or better yet, how much I was spending) after we moved!

Robin!! Come on over! Always room for more, and yes it's the view that I love so much! But hey! If my DD hadn't been living in MI we would have moved to NC, so I'm a little jealous actually! BTW, Niagra catches almost everything from the lake effects that we do, I'm sure it will be FANTASTIC!

wa8b - no worries, it's only been a couple of years, but I've actually had to shovel the snow many times and since we live on a hill with a 100 ft driveway, I agree it was challenging, but...the hassle was nothing a snow blower couldn't fix and now it's a walk in the park! HA!

Josie!!! Thanks for asking, we are doing great! Did your kitchen pass the Thanksgiving test? I was thinking of you!
No, haven't taken pics yet, still have backsplash to do, but DD helped me cook over the weekend and loved workign with both the granite and silgranit sink. Promise pics after backsplash goes in! I hope you see this, I'm really anxious to hear how you enjoyed your Kitchen during the holiday! -- Lukki

It is lovely to look at, like a fairyland. Thanks for posting it, as it brought back some very nice memories. But, I'm glad they are just memories!! I too lived back East for 32 years. We used our snow shovel for fir bark mulch when we moved to California. Here's my view out the bedroom window yesterday...

-Babka

{{gwi:1106672}}

very pretty indeed.

Hi all. I'm a long time Lurker here but these beautiful pictures promted me to write. I grew up in Pa. with seasons and now live in Seattle. We have two seasons: wet and dry! It's snows maybe every other year, so "snow days" are pretty special around here. Mustbnuts is right, no snowplows. Thanks for the reminder of how beautiful and quiet a snowy day can be.

Now that's a lovely sight, indeed. I grew up in Chicago, where the nice white snowfall soon turned into icky gray and black mush...bleehhhhh! Your photo is how I like my snow - in a photograph. LOL! Seriously, it took me eight years to make the trek up to Lake Tahoe. Once there I was astonished that it STAYED white [grin].

Reminds me of the great Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

-- Robert Frost

oh JK, your poem gave me goosebumps! I haven't read Robert Frost since I was a girl in school. Thanks for taking the time to post it, I really enjoyed it!

Hi Lukki, I didn't do Thanksgiving this year, but I will host Christmas eve I'm cooking for 22 so, it'll really be put to the test....

Can't wait to see your pics.....Glad to hear things are going well.

lukki, those are beautiful pictures! You sure have a great view!

I grew up in Minnesota but, as an adult, have followed my husbands career all over the U.S - from Chicago to Dallas to San Franciso to Tampa to Salt Lake City - and now we are in Indiana. My kids love the snow and we all love skiing but, frankly, I loved Florida winters! I guess I am getting whimpy in my old age! : )

Sandy

Very beautiful! I love snow in the winter (not spring, LOL)! I grew up and live in W.PA where we have all four seasons and I love them all. I still get that giddy feeling when I wake up after a large snow fall and see everything white. When I was a kid it ment SNOW DAY! A day to make snowmen and snow angles, sled ride, then come back in for some hot coco. Of course now I have to shovel and driving into work takes twice the time, but I still like it. On really bad days I take a vacation day and play with my DD's in the snow and pretend I have a snow day too.

I always love a fresh snowfall. I love waking up to it in the morning -- sometimes even before I open my eyes I can tell it's snowed by the hush that blankets everything outside. Here in mid NY we rarely get it in December. I've noticed I'm happier during a snowy winter than a non-snowy one. Probably because everything stays bright. When I lived in Wisconsin, I used to look out our back door at the neighbor's big parking area, covered with an even layer of snow, and pretend it was a frozen lake. It's a wonderful thing!

Your picture is beautiful. I'm from Texas. Have lived all over the U.S. and just returned to Texas from living in Canada for six years. I am LOVING seeing leaves still on the trees in December, flowers that bloom through the winter, shorts at Christmastime. I did love the quiet serene beauty of the snow, the sculptural effect of the snow thick on the branches in the mornings after a heavy snowfall. I feel like a child that was just born--seeing everything for the first time again since it's new to me all over again with the Texas climate.

Seeing your picture, I'm torn between nostalgia and relief!

We moved from northern Indiana to just south of Nashville, TN, in May, and here we still have some autumn leaves on the trees!

I think I'll miss snow . . . but not much. I can always go "home" to visit . . . if I'm a guest, they won't expect me to shovel, will they?

But I agree, there's nothing like the hush of the world when you wake up and look after a snowfall like that . . . bring on the hot chocolate and a good book!

4 or 5 more inches of snow fell gently through the day yesterday. Very beautiful and so gradual that driving was fine. But we woke up to bone chilling COLD this morning. That's the part of winter that makes me want to escape.

Those are really beautiful photos. I am a native Minnesotan, so that scene is pretty much what I see from December until late March--sometimes later.

I love the change of seasons, especially from a harsh winter to spring, but I have to say that there is something almost magical about a blanket of snow in your backyard that reflects back the moonlight, and it is so bright, it is just amazing. I love to look out my window then because it actually looks like dawn is breaking, and it is actually only midnite. It's as if God put out a giant night light. :^)

What a lovely scene! I was born and raised in Michigan and your pics make me very homesick. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Lynn

Another happy ex east-coaster :) The only snow is if we go to visit it, most of the time...

note to babka: holy moly, babka, that's a *beautifully* done garden! Did you design it yourself? Do you do the upkeep/pruning? It's splendid and mature and the lines just thrill me. I think I'll use it as my screen for now...any details would be most welcome (maybe on a separate thread in conversations?)

Owls4me - We escaped the extra snow, just have flurries now, but the cold is definately here! Oh I know this is crazy to say, but we're cold lovers, DH from Sweden & Russia and I'm sick of the heat. The colder is gets the cozier we feel at home and better the stew on the stove smells. Yum!

Lynn, I didn't know you were from Michigan! I have driven across country many times and can honestly say, that I've never seen a sun rise as beautiful as I have when I've driven through New Mexico. I guess every state has it's own individual beauty don't they?