Posts Tagged ‘season’

#28 Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

Yay, holiday season! I’m on a three week break from school, and Christmas is soon approaching. I’ve made cute little mugs of candy as gifts for my friends. They’re easy to make. You just need to arrange the following:

  • A Christmas Mug
  • Peppermint Patties (in the bottom)
  • Giant Christmas Kit Kat Bar
  • Skittles or M&M Tins, containing their respective candies
  • 2 Sweet Tart Candy Canes

And you’ve got yourself an affordable and enjoyable gift for many people. I think this also sort of counts for one thing my list of 101 Things to do in 1001 Days; #28. Make Christmas presents. This counts, right? Sure….

It is my hope that everyone enjoys this holiday season. (And really… who can’t have a nice time with all the pretty snow, music, lights, and happy friends and family about them? If you can’t, you are a grinch. And I’ll call you out on it!)

A note to Santa: I would like my own Santa Hat this season so I don’t have to Photoshop one onto my head each year. (P.S. I’ve been a very good girl.)

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!

~Ellen

First Snowfall of the Season

Friday, December 4th, 2009

The first fresh blanket of winter white always manages to take my breath away. But never have I seen a first snowfall come this heavy or fast. Usually the tips of the green grass are still sticking up for a week or more before there’s enough snow to cover it and not melt in a day. But today it started snowing, and didn’t stop… and it’s sticking. After about three hours, there was four inches of snow on the ground. I ran back to my apartment, grabbed my new camera (I bought the Canon Rebel T1i over Thanksgiving break), and ran back on to campus and took photos of the freshly fallen snow.

Of course, I was not alone out there, even though it was eleven at night by then. Plenty of other people were already out making snowmen, having snowball fights, and taking their own photos of the first snow of the season. Walking around in such a beautiful snowy world put a goofy grin on my face and just made my day.

In my excitement, I’ve already uploaded a few photos on my flickr tonight. Nothing like enthusiasm of fresh snow to get my motivation going.

Why I Hate Spring

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Most people like spring. It’s the end of all the cold snow and the beginning to a new, warm summer in temperate regions. But when I tell people I hate spring, and it’s my least favorite season, they are shocked and appalled. But it’s a simple and logical explanation having to do with where I grew up.

For one, I can never answer the question, “What’s your favorite season?” because it’s a tie between summer and winter. I always recall once when I was in preschool I was babysat by my best friend’s mom. So when we weren’t in school, I was with my best friend all day long! And I remember, standing at the big bay window at the front of the house, complaining about the heat of summer jumping up and down singing, “We want winter! We want winter!” in that generic child sing-song voice. But then after winter rolled around, we would get sick of being wet and cold from playing in the snow. We would go to the same bay window, where the snow drifted up to our chest level against the window, and sing, “We want summer! We want summer!”

That has basically stayed the same, and now I love both summer and winter equally. Now, why do I hate spring? It’s because of where I live. My house, which I’ve lived in all my life, is next to a steep, slightly wooded ravine with a stream at the bottom. It’s beautiful and we have huge windows in our kitchen that look out over it where we can watch all the little critters run around and birds eat at the feeders. But the thing with all the trees dropping their leaves in a temperate area, is they soon get covered in snow for a whole winter. That means, come spring, when the snow melts, all the dead leaves get soaked and start rotting under the sunlight. Rotting equals disgusting smell, not to mention the worms. Also, living next to a ravine with a stream means that there’s stagnant water around which is prime breeding ground for mosquitos. We literally get clouds of mosqitos by my house and as a kid I was always covered in mosquito bites in spring. I’m still shocked I’ve never gotten West Nile or Malaria or something. Haha! (I’m kidding about the Malaria, only half kidding about West Nile….)

It’s these events that have made me come to the point where I hate spring. I hope this is more understandable now and you can excuse my disgust for the season. I make up for it with enthusiasm for summer and winter, and even fall in the right conditions! :)

See videos of my ravine in late winter when the snow first melts and in late spring when its more bearable.