I brought in my pie pumpkin from my front porch and I want to bring in the cushions off of the furniture and put away for the winter and by all means have the garden hoses disconnected from the house. I have wood in the garage if I should need it in case of a power outage, that is about it for me.

Sue

I agree, I love the rhythm and variety of the four seasons. We don't really have four seasons where I live, but I work to incorporate as much seasonal flavor as I can.

I can't imagine living in a place that is sunny all year round. I'd get bored, want and need variety. One of my Facebook friends posts pictures of herself on a sunny beach almost every day of the year, and even just looking at pictures of sunny beaches every day bores me to tears. When summer is over here, I'm more than ready to move on to another season. Love fall and winter changes.

I too love fall and winter and would never live where it's sunny and hot year round. I don't like summer at all and we had it this year till two days ago. All my ferns are indoors now and tomorrow the lantana will be cut back and brought to the basement greenhouse where they hibernate. From the two-inch stubs they grow 6 feet tall and are still glorious today.

I need to adopt your attitude, Blue. I hate winter. I hate that it goes on, and on, and on. Although the weather is supposedly "mild" here, its cold, for months on end. I just hate it.

The idea of moving has often been the topic of conversation here. And yeah, there's the grandkids. If we could afford the upkeep on two homes, that would be perfect!

I think I've mentioned how much I hate winter???? Well, its been a tough week here for me...or mostly DH? It was really his brothers fault...it takes a little time for me to adjust and contain my moods.

Anyway, enough with my dramatics because i dont actually go into a psychotic state, but winter sucks in my book.

I am so cold natured. It got down in the high 40's last night, and already I am tired of "winter". Temps will be back up to 80's in a couple of days. Fortunately our cold (or what I consider cold) only lasts a day or two before it warms up again. Our winters can be very wet....and since I have animals to take care of outside, I hate the mud. If it never got below 80....I would be happy.

I'm glad we are not all alike. I hate winter no matter where I am. We moved from Ohio to Georgia to at least get away from the snow and ice, but it still gets cold here in Georgia and I just freeze. Anything below 80 and I am cold. It's going down to 39 degrees tonight. Oh brrrrrr. I call these cold months my "bitching season". LOL

Living in Pennsylvanua I get true seasons. I hate the cold, but really I just hate leaving the house when its cold. I do enjoy winter though. I like the more closeness with the family. Everyone leaning over the card table doing jigsaw puzzles or playing board games. I even just enjoy seeing everyone in the family room in their PJ's with their own lap throw watching movies together. It just seems like there's more of a feeling of closeness in the winter than summer. Than spring comes along which I also love. I love all the seasons for a variety of reasons but I realize its always tied into my family...LOL.

I already put all the patio furniture away and tidied up outside. Basketballs, baseball bats, and crochet set all packed up for the winter. Jigsaw puzzles my cousin droppped off ready. Everyone's lap throws washed and in the trunk in the family room. Amiee has tons of Disney movies that I pulled out of my storage unit last month and have stashed in a closet waiting to be watched.

Bed sheets are the same year round except Amiee loves her flannel, they are washed. Summer weight down comforters were washed and packed away and winter down filled washed stuffed in the duvet covers and on the beds. The summer clothes packed up and winter wear out, washed and put away. The coat closet is again packed with jackets, coats, gloves, hats, scarves, matter of fact I just washed all the wool scarves last week.

Furnace was cleaned and tested and all the heat vents vacuumed out.

Only thing left is for me to find some delicious new comfort food recipes.

Its going to be a wonderful winter season.

I could never live somewhere that didn't have the seasons. I love each one. (though fall is my favorite!) Waiting for the temp to drop enough to light the fire......

Aw Mamapinky .... you write very eloquently about the joys of family life.

Summer clothes are now out-of-season so up they go into the attic. For the next five months, it's jeans, thick sweats, and flannel shirts turn in my dresser. I've put the electric mattress-warmer on the bed. It's wonderful having the sheets toasty warm when the air is so cold. Out in the garden, the showy grasses and flower seed-heads are so calming with their muted colors.

They're calling for a hard freeze soon, so I must remember to put the ice-scrapers back into each car. And locate the snow-shovels, I know they're around somewhere.

By January, I'll be ready for Spring.

I like winter and the changing seasons too. I do fantasize about living on an island or owning one.....:0)

Blue and Mama have wonderful outlooks toward the cold season. I am with the people that like warmth however! My arthritis doesn't hurt, when it is warm. I like warm better, when I don't have to wear so many clothes. ;)

Moni

Nickel, I have a few mattress warmers, that were gifts but I've never used them. I do use a twin size electric blanket across the bottom of my bed with another blanket on top for my little doggie. I only turn it on low when its really cold and even than on and off a few time thru the night. Its a job keeping these little dogs warm in the winter. They get chilled easily than get sick.

Mama, most evenings I turn the mattress warmer on "high" for 15 or 20 minutes, then turn it off for the rest of the night shortly after going to bed. Only on very cold mornings do I turn it back on for an extra shot of warmth. I can picture your little dogs enjoying their electric blanket :-)

I live in California now but I spent 7 years in Chicago and Boston. I love spring and fall but I hate snow. Well, if I don't have to go anywhere, I don't mind but driving in snow stresses me out. I thinking working during winter is awful!

Planting the newest bulbs,

Splitting and transplanting old ones --

if I don't run out of energy.

Airing wool blankets on the clothesline,

Hanging sweaters in the hall closet.

Wool socks checked for holes.

Holding off as long as possible turning on the furnace,

trying to reset the body's thermostat to tolerate 64--

as normal in the house.

Caching old blankets, a small shovel in the car trunk,

Adding a little air to the tires--

lest they go flat on the coldest day.

Wishing I had a real parka

with a deep, breath-warming hood,

and mukluks, real mukluks.

Raking leaves,

Raking more leaves,

and smelling autumn.

Drying seeds for next year's butternut.

Raking yet more leaves,

Pocketing some seeds from the tall anemones.

Raking leaves,

Raking mounds of leaves,

Raking mountains of leaves.

Matthias, I learned what a mukluk was- thank you ;-)

Lovely images in your list- quite poetic.

Yesterday I winterized all my ceiling fans: dusted them off (yikes! How do they get so dirty?), replaced a few light bulbs here and there, and reversed their direction. Anybody else have trouble with that?

They’re supposed to turn clockwise in winter to circulate the heat back down, but it’s impossible for me to stand looking at a turning fan and tell if it’s going clockwise or counterclockwise. So for every fan (four!!), I turned them as low as they would go, and laid down directly under the fan - with a real clock in one hand for reference - to make sure they were turning clockwise!! Lol! Anybody else do that?

Lol littlebug! I just flip the switch. ;)

Yeah, moonie, I do, but what if I forgot to flip it last spring??!! Yes, I’m a dork. :)

I'm there with you then, littlebug! It is hard to tell which direction those blades are moving. Lol My fans run a lot so i know when to flip the switch.

It's funny you should mention fan direction as DH and I just had this conversation. We really don't use them much in the winter except in the LR with the vaulted ceiling. I glanced at it and got it right and he could not visualize it.

BTW ...Winter is here.

Very nice! We don't get much snow in central Ohio. I miss our northern Ohio winters. Although this morning's temp of 20 felt good while walking to Tim's for coffee and laughs.

Fans. Once the direction is figured out, use a marker to label the switch W/S. Fortunately mine has a remote to change direction and it's marked accordingly.

Today's chores will be; remove and store window screens, clean window glass, cover and anchor patio furniture and lubricate the garage door hinges, rollers and tracks.

I would love to move to Florida but I’ve heard homeowners insurance is very very expensive because of the dreadful storm damage that keeps happening down there.

Not to jinx myself but I’m in a perfect area storm wise. My homeowners insurance is $28 a month. Never had a claim.

For those that live in areas that do get snow, do you see any difference in the number of snows/amounts of snow you get now compared to when you were little? I definitely do. We used to get several good snows a winter, with good amounts at times and it would seem to be on the ground for a while. Now there are some years we get no snow, or one snow. A lot of times we might get a "good" snow, and two days later it 60 and melting. Weird weather. I hate it as I LOVE snow. :)

I, too, love the four seasons. Not so much thrilled with snow anymore. I love it here in Williamsburg. We get all four seasons but winters are so much shorter. Lived in the Northeast most of my life. We usually get at least one snow a year. Most of the time it's gone by the next day. Occasionally if we're experiencing extended cold temps, it will last a week. Perfect for me.

We lived in the snow belt in Medina County, OH for 42 years. The Columbus, OH area is mild. I think we got a few inches last winter.

Georgysmom, I was in Williamsburg for Christmas once years ago. It was my favorite trip with my Mom. I only wished there had been snow. I have been thinking of planning a trip there this Christmas but haven't pursued it and December is coming fast. Do you live right there in Colonial Willamsburg? Are there special events the days up and on Christmas? would shops be open? a church service on Christmas Eve?