[inilbowly]

agree 100%. i love anything even remotely related to snow and nordic cultures. funny, when i was little (and still) i fell in deep love with siberian huskies, wolves. i am engaged to a finnish girl from the way north and have a samoyed for a pup (also a siberian breed). when snow starts falling i am as giddy as a little kid and can stay out in it for hours on end. it makes me wonder too. i yet have to experience the nordic lights but i think my soul will truly soar once i see that.

light & love,
alex

[M1zdL0hh]

i had a siberian husky when i was a child =]

love,
ra ma

[Ternneowns]

you are so lucky. i've wanted one for the longest time but for some reason it just hasn't happened yet.

alex

[N9NACzws]

o yes, he was wonderful! get one if you get the chance. but they need lots of space, like a big backyard and they prefer to live outside in a dog house. =]

love,
ra ma

[shihoodiacarf]

hello! i'm new to divine cosmos and this is my first post... i'm the mother of seven children, all grown, 19 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. lately i act as mid-mother to many kittens. i live in sandpoint, idaho with a husband, harry, and youngest daughter, jenn, along with three dogs, and many, many cats and kittens. i'm happy to have found these happy forums and am a new member here.

okay ~ now back on topic:

yes! winter is a time to thrive! it acts as a buffer for all the cares and ills of the world. it is very cold, of course, at least where we live up in the idaho panhandle next to the canadian border in sandpoint, idaho. we are 48 miles from the border in the most gorgeous forest. when i lived in cities, being filled with empathy and compassion, i picked up on everyone's vibe and it troubled me greatly. it seemed to hang like a pall around my shoulders and troubled me. after awhile i learned to live with it but did not always feel great joy and happiness, i felt bogged down with the cares of others like wearing a cloak of sadness or something.

forests act as buffers, too, for those of us who are ultra-sensitive. when you put the two together ~ forests and snow ~ you can and have created a haven and a heaven on earth. literally.

wrapped in the arms of winter's embrace, we are free of cares and woes and do not take on the coloring of others. it's a buffer of pure white love and adorns everything captured in it's embrace. a sanctuary.

we share our home and forest world with a colony of cats. here is a picture of a shed and various vehicles buried in the blizzards of last winter. this picture was taken on february 23, 2011. the older cats loved this shed and some lived in it and others lived under it. each picked their own group and cubby; some lived under these cars or other favorite places they choose on their own. like all life ~ cats love freedom to roam at will and pick areas they love most. freedom reigns and comfortable cubbies can be found for all life even though it is cold. there is the igloo effect of warmth available ~ if one looks and follows their own instincts. humans have a harder time than any animals but we are all blessed with these instincts. when we get far from nature, we often forget to listen to our own senses and what our bodies are telling us. sometimes these are simply drown out by the overwhelming "noise" you have living closer to a lot of people. it's too loud!

we kind of propped the door of the shed open, so they could get in and out of it. we also left one of the garage doors open about a foot up with food and water inside where it was much warmer and a couple of them lived in the garage. throughout the winter, they went through 80 lbs of dry cat food each month, so although we didn't always "see" them all, we knew they thrived. the other half lived inside the house with us. my room has been dubbed, darla's royal nursery. it is where our new kittens grow old enough to venture out into the larger house and then world around us. they all begin life in my nursery. it's a hard job to watch them grow and develop and frolic but someone's got to do the tough stuff ; )

i will mention that if you have to go out every day in snow ~ it might lose some of it's charm but we didn't. you can nest, and learn to think ahead and stock up on things you need. those chained to jobs ~ well, it might not so fun. we are old and retired now, or that's the rumor anyway. for us, it is the perfect life and each day gives us more reasons to cherish our life and the lives of all living things around us. we have a deep and abiding love and appreciation for winter. and so it is... much love to you! xoxoxox

[tickerinet]

thanks for sharing darla!
welcome to the forum!

for me, the more often i go out in the snowy weather, the more i grow to love it!
snow reminds me of being a child, living on a small farm out in the country side of russia.

winter is in my veins, because my mother is siberian.
it's not everyone's cup of tea, but i am glad there are many who do share this opinion.

did you know that the snowflake is actually all colors of the rainbow and not just white if you look at it under a microscope? i didn't know this until a couple of months ago. hehe. pretty amazing!

love and light and love,
ra ma