12 December 2006

Wintery Tuesday Tale

I hope you'll agree with me, that what we're having at the moment isn't winter. So we'll just skip that and mindleap (that's a word, right? At least it ought to be) to a wintery winter... And I'm really not such a big fan of snow, or skiing, or cold! But I'll be looking on the bright side...


The smells of winter
The smell of wood burning, inhaled through frozen nostrils. The smell of hot chocolate, coming home from the cold. The smell of hot blackcurrant squash (what we call 'toddy') and oranges taking a break on a skiing trip. That's cross country, obviously ;) The rancid smell of fresh-gutted fish and seawater during the fishing season.

The sights of winter

The northern lights. Couldn't possibly tire of them! The drying racks full of fish. The vastness of the starry sky on an endlessly dark night, as you see them lying on your back in the snow.

The sounds of winter
The sound made walking on kram* snow - it is in fact just like walking on potato flour. (Try it!) The sound of sea gulls calling from afar, then masses responding as the fishing boats return home! The swish-swash sound of skis run through a slope.

The touch of winter
Cold. Obviously. And very sticky... Like (probably) every Norwegian child I once just had to lick some metal surface that had ice on it. Don't try this at home kids! Yes. Your tongue will stick. And yes, it does hurt having it ripped lose. 'nuff said...
The tastes of winter
(Except from blood, in the above example...?) Well, hot chocolate, "toddy" and oranges I've already mentioned. Christmas cookies, I guess... And the taste of snow :) Well, no, I don't eat snow anymore - and I tell my kids not to (they haven't either, since one of them got those dreaded worms, and they all had to take the horrid medicine for a week...), but I do remember the taste of it. Tasty? Not really. But definitely wintery...

*Quite new and sticky snow, excellent for making snow-balls and snowmen!

And don't be silly - of course these photos aren't mine!! The daylight ones I ripped off somewhere I don't even remember, the starry night was taken by the excellent photographer, my Canadian friend r!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite sounds of winter is not a sound at all; it's the lack of it.
After a day of snowfall in the mountains go outside that night...The quiet is amazing! Everything seems to be so still.

Addicted to Doll Houses

Anonymous said...

That's all very distant to me: there's no snow here, no smell of toddy or fish, no northern lights...Tangerine is definitely a taste of Winter for me :)

Unknown said...

Sounds great...except for all the fish smell.

Merujo said...

That was a great entry. I love "sensory journeys" (to borrow a kinda goofy "new age" phrase.) And I do love winter - and I miss it here in DC, where winters just really aren't wintry. (Today, we will reach 60F...)

I have seen the Northern Lights from an airplane window a couple of times, on the polar route from New York to Moscow. Simply gorgeous. I would love to see Norway in winter.