Winter is good now

The only thing that keeps us from moving permanently to Downeast Maine is that winter, when it first takes over, robs me of light, and I get cranky and not nice. As we get deep into Feb and then skid into MArch, the rebounding light increases each day by about 4 minutes. So , by the end of March, no matter how nasty the cold, weve got about 2 extra hours of light. If were lucky enough to still have snow on the ground by then, it's surface has a golden sheen that provides a complement to the long purple shadows of the deep woods. Late winter and early spring are excellent times to see the true colors of snow. In Deember the snow is a greenish grey when falling, in MArch its a silver blue and provides me with a short note that another seasons work is about to start.
I especially like the seasonal specialty of March "snow showers". These are huge masses of deep dark cumulo-nimbus clouds that scud across the sky going east as part of a last ditch Arctic front.They sweep over the land, blot out the sun and then They dump a brief, but intense, snowsquall on the land, often leaving as much as 4 inches of light snow, which quickly disappears as the clouds pass and the sun takes over again.
Down here , we deal with mud. Mud IS a season for us. We accept it and even celebrate it. Started this week, there are weekly rural volunteer fire company "mud Sales" which are like winter carnivals for the country folk and the Amish. Weve all been getting cabin fever and these sales, the muddier the better, are opportunities to see people that youve not talked to since last October. They have horse "trot offs" where the line of a wagon and the horses gaits are judged like compulsary "school figures" in Olympic ice skating. The Amish boys play "Corner Ball" which is like a combination spelling bee and high velocity dodgeball.
There are vendors selling funnel cake and fries. Hommade donuts fried in artery clogging lard and sammiches made of crispy fried scrapple and egg, so everyone whos eaten one has the detectable egg yoke residue on their chins.
The sales include quilts and tools, horses and kohlrabi, oranges and carving knives.
Its a time , between the seasons that everyone really has nothing important to do, the very wealthy have skipped town months ago, and only the folks are left to describe the comparison of last years hay crops to hay crops of historical note.
You ought to come down and see these festivals Algis, youd run out of film like Margaret Bourke White said once when trying to capture some WWII event of celebration.
Sorry for yakkin it up but , hell you brought it up. Have a good rest of the winter

Oh no you just furthered my enjoyment of the whole season. I particularly liked the 4 extra minutes of light each day in March. Yeah when you know it's over like now really you can enjoy so many aspect of the transition through visual delights.