[186lilly]

username: 959875 186lilly
floc name: Temperest
something about winter:

The date of the winter solstice varies from year to year, and can fall anywhere between December 20 and December 23, with the 21st or 22nd being the most common dates. The reason for this is because the tropical year—the time it takes for the sun to return to the same spot relative to Earth—is different from the calendar year. The next solstice occurring on December 20 will not happen until 2080, and the next December 23 solstice will not occur until 2303.

Ancient cultures viewed the winter solstice as a time of death and rebirth. The seeming death of the light and very real threat of starvation over the winter months would have weighed heavily on early societies, who held varied solstice celebrations and rites meant to herald the return of the sun and hope for new life. Scandinavian and Germanic pagans lit fires and may have burned Yule logs as a symbolic means of welcoming back the light. Cattle and other animals were slaughtered around midwinter, followed by feasting on what was the last fresh meat for several months. The modern Druidic celebration Alban Arthan reveres the death of the Old Sun and birth of the New Sun.

[coolcutelily]

username: Coolcutelily
floc name:Alice
something about winter:
Let's talk about Winter. The season that feels like it starts in November, but doesn't actually hit until December 21st and ends March 21st. Yeah, just as a reminder being a Pisces means you were a winter baby, not a spring baby. Fun fact for the day. March is always thought of us a Spring month... and yet, it is not. It is a winter month for more than half of the Thirty-one days. Talk about a mind blow. Oh, and let's not forget that Christmas is actually the celebration of the start of what is supposed to be the "cold months". Winter is coming, nah man, Winter is here, and this whole Advent event was actually celebrated during the season of Autumn, minus like seven days. Just something to think about. January is the true month that everyone thinks of it being winter and they would be correct. Heck, even February, the month of love, is actually a winter month. Bring a whole new idea to being cold hearted huh? Like yeah I'm cold hearted its Winter what did you expect. Nah, just kidding I'm not like that, but it made for a good joke huh. And let's not even try to forget St. Patrick's day. Yeah, winter season celebration. It's the tail end of it, but the celebration for drinking takes place in the same season everyone thinks about hot chocolate and cuddly blankets. And yet, we be out in pubs drinking to our heart's content. So, the next time you think Winter, think about how misrepresented the season is by what is celebrated during the winter months.

[Midnight Tails]

username: #308233 Midnight Tails
floc name: Evelyn
something about winter:
Winter feels like home and safety to me, a time of coming home and seeing family, snuggling by the fire and drinking warm cocoa. Of blissful childish glee, and mischievousness and a time of magic.
Now here's the thing, I'm australian, so you'd think winter wouldn't mean snow to me, I don't feel like australian winter is even that cold where I normally am! But there are some places in australia that have snow.
Plus there's all those wintery and christmas movies haha. So snow is a big part of winter to me, one day I hope to move to somewhere that does consistently have snow, I love it that much.
A really precious memory of mine over winter is when I was nine years old. Hope it's alright to share it!
Some family had paid for me and my mum to travel to the other side of aus, and visit some family there, in Victoria, where there is snow. A cousin of my mother's let us stay in a homestead on his property, and at some point he took us for a drive up the Snowy Mountains, a mountain range thats partially in the state of Victoria.
The drive up wasn't eventful, apart from the hairpin turns scaring the bejeezus out of me, the drive seemed to never end, going around and around slowly getting higher but never reaching the top.
At one point the ute stops, and he says we have to walk from here, only road left is horse trails.
I don't remember how long it took to get to our destination, I was too excited, it was going to be the first time I ever saw snow after all!
But I do remember the crunch of my boots on gravel as I trudged up the hill, we'd also been told it was near the tail end of winter, so we may not see any snow left at all, plus it had been a pretty warm one, but I was still hopeful.
At the top of the hill my wish for snow came true; it truly felt like a winter wonderland.
Snow piled high, and was so blindingly white it took my breath away, snow as far as the eye could see, even on the bushes and trees, changing the landscape so drastically it didn't feel temporary at all.
Like I'd walked into a fairytale, that's how it felt.
I raced down laughing and first thing I did as I ran was throw away my gloves, I was seeing snow for the first time after all, I wanted to feel it too, went to the first bit of snow I could see, and in this moment I hesitated for a moment, it was so pristine I felt a little guilty ruining that, but decided that it was going to melt anyway so might as well enjoy it while it lasted.
I'm not sure how to describe how it felt putting both my hands into the snow, it felt cold but not really that wet, and it certainly wasn't like holding ice. it was almost comfortable for a time, but soon enough my hands started to get numb, then they started to twinge a little in pain so I took them out and went and fetched my gloves back.
Next thing I did was dive face first into the snow, well I waded around in the snow exploring for a bit first, before I found a good clear patch for it, as I wanted to make a snow angel, that was pretty fun, tho it made my clothes suprisingly soggy.
At this time I realised I was very warm, too warm, so I complained to my mum that she'd rugged me up too much, she'd insisted it'd be cold, but I never felt cold too much, and decided I didn't need all these things, a simple thin jumper, shorts, and boots would suffice, and I promised I wouldn't get too cold, didn't even need the gloves, and turns out I was correct in this judgement, in fact at times later on I laid in the snow to cool down!
After this I tried making some snowballs...it's harder than it looks!
They're also a lot heavier and more damaging than expected, quickly turning into little iceballs instead.
So while I played a bit of a snowball fight right after, I didn't enjoy that aspect very much, it hurt to get hit by one!
Learning from this experience however, I awkawardly made a somewhat bigger snowball, and started rolling it roughly along the ground, my goal for today all along had been to make a snowman after all.
I only knew that you roll it along the ground due to movie watching, so it took some time to sort of understand how to roll it decently, kept breaking at first. At some point during this I went back and got my gloves again, as my hands were getting a bit chilly. Once I got going it suprised me how readily the snowballs would get bigger, to the point that I ended up needing help from some family there with me, to help roll it further, I wanted to make the biggest snowman ever you see, wasn't successful on that obviously, but made a decently sized one, was taller than me by a fair margin!
I didn't make the body in the right order however, as the secound snowball was a lot larger than the first, so we had to swap them, I had been enjoying rolling it so much I hadn't noticed how big it'd got, and I was in charge of how to make the snowman so noone had said anything about it.
We sorted it though, but as a result the middle was very heavy, as it was originally the base, so needed a lot of help to lift it into position. Head of the snowman was the easy bit, just needed to be lifted up to put it in position.
I thought the next part would be the easiest bit, the decorating...
Turned out, even when we dug through all the snow, we couldn't find a single pebble, let alone enough to make a smile, eyes and nose! I found some great sticks for arms in the process of snowball making, so added those, then it was a hunt for some good stones. It actually took us over an hour of searching, walking off into the snowy covered bushland looking for anything even resembling a stone at this point, but as luck would have it, one of my cousins and myself, having paired up to find things, stumbled across a whole pile of rounded stones right under a small hill, and near what looked like some sort of caved in cave, we'd gone a long way from where we'd set up, so we grabbed all we could and headed back, we found out later that location was the entrance to an old mine, that's why there was so many pebbles in one place like that.
I secretly mentally thanked the old miners for leaving those stones there, as I hadn't worked out that the stones I collected weren't valuable, they were shiny and black and pretty in my eyes so I thought the miners were mining for them, as noone at the time explained to me what they had been mining for.
Got lifted up to do the face, and did my best to give them the biggest smile.
Finally I posed next to it and someone took a picture.
I still have that picture to this day, and my own smile rivals the snowmans for who has the biggest grin.
I'll never forget that day, its very special to me, and from then on winter was my favourite.
I've encountered snow since then, and its been a lot of fun, but nothing beats that special first memory.
I could continue on about winter, give some cool facts and such, but I think this is already long enough haha!!


Hope everyone's had a wonderful christmas, or happy holidays~! <3

[DarkestWerewolf]

username: DarkestWerewolf
floc name: Khione
something about winter:

Being born and raised in Singapore means I’ve never experienced anything aside from summer unless I travel. My tiny home is one of the few that only has summer as the only season all year round. The closest we get to winter is when the monsoon season arrives every end of year. It rains so constantly that the temperature can drop till 25C. It’s the coldest we can ever get. However, it’s still cozy enough to have a hot drink and take a nap.

A significant time when I actually experienced winter was my trip to Beijing 2 years back. Beijing is known to snow but we weren’t lucky enough to see it then. However, it’s still a great experience regardless. The cold was chilling but nice. We went to so many iconic places even when the temperature is barely above 0C. We climbed the Great Wall and had a blast doing so. Even sweated quite a bit from it.

After going back from a chilly day out, taking a hot shower, having a nice dinner and falling asleep was an amazing sensation. You just melt and become one with the bed.

[waffle02]

Username: waffle02
Floc Name: Boreas
Something about Winter:
Hey its Boreas here!! Have you ever wondered why lakes and ponds freeze in the winter yet the fish inside are still there? This may come as a surprise to you, but unlike birds fish cannot just go south for the winter. Unless they live in a river but it would have to he a long river and now I'm just getting off track hold on....

Right I was talking about freezing ponds!
So water has this magical trait that my keyholder calls "chemistry" (whatever that is) that causes the water to stay warmer at the bottom of the pond when temperatures get cold. Apparently most liquids get more dense as they get cooler, but at certain temperatures water doesn't do that right. Instead water is its most dense at 4°C even though it doesn't freeze until 0°C. This means as winter weather sets in and lakes get cold the water will get cold first on the top layer which will fall lower into the pond as it reaches 4°C. Then once it approaches 3°C and colder it will actually rise back up closer to the surface and then freeze as a layer of ice on the surface of the water.

This top ice layer is a poor conductor of heat which then makes the rest of the water take a longer time to freeze helping protect the fish in the pond which stay towards the bottom during winter. Oxygen also gets trapped between the layers and allows the fish to still get the oxygen in the water they need to breathe (through gills of course because fish don't have noses haha). Then once it begins to warm up again in spring the water on top unfreezes and the fish are free to swim closer to the surface again!!

Anyways my keyholder is a big science nerd so they wanted me to share that with you. All I know is if I told you about this that I would be getting fudge later and I love fudge. So that's all I have for you! Hope you enjoyed your fun winter nerd lesson I'm going to go retrieve my prize, later!!

[Kitsune.]

username: Kitsune.
floc name: Blizzard
something about winter: I love some of the specific feelings winter provides, so these lil poems are intended to campture them !

A comfy seat before the window, close enough to feel the whispers of winter that crawl through the glass;
the house is silent, save for the occasional howling winds that run alongside it.
The sky that sends them is gray, the perfect shade of gray,
gray like wool, gray like stone, gray like static, gray like a firm hand on your shoulder.
The lawn is a perfect white carpet, soaking up any ray of sunshine that mistakenly tumbles onto it
and reflecting it back upward like inverted moonlight.
The street is utterly desolate, devoid of life and motion,
and my mind is numbed as if it's filled with snow.
I feel alone in a way that I know I'm not,
the winter weather isolates me and passifies me at once,
transfixing me with its lack of motion.
I've not moved, I'm still surrounded by neighbors and birds and squirrels,
and yet I'm somewhere else, somewhere peaceful where I'm beholden to no-one and nothing, except myself.
Snow winter mornings like these, following a night of flurries, are always some of my favorite days.
Will I make snowmen in the yard? will I nap before the fireplace? will I run in the snow until I collapse into it with a satisfying crunch?
Winter offers possibility coupled with the release of responsibilities; snow days, cancelled plans,
amnd perfect quiet mornings.

The snowflakes are thick, and they fall even thicker,
an army of white flecks racing towards the ground, arm in arm.
The storm started hours after dusk, and the effect is hypnotic;
dazzling white stars drifting downward in sheets, starkly contrasted against the pitch black night.
The porch light illuminates the crowd of snow yards from the door, showing that the storm completely encompasses the house.
My eyes are drawn to the constant motion, my ears drawn to the harsh winds that claw at the siding.
The snow seems to send my mind backwards in time, breaking through the ice holding my memories of the previous year.
They pass through my mind like the same precipitate that falls outside the window,
and without realizing, an hour has passed watching the storm,
and reflecting. Looking back, I take the time to process the year in a way
I feel I haven't had in a long time.
But, like the very storm that summoned them, all of these memories, and this year, will pass,
they will fall, and stick for a while, and then melt away.
Cyclical, and yet always changing.

School wasn't cancelled. It wasn't even delayed, despite the snow on the ground,
painting the neighborhood white.
I stood at the bus stop, in boots and thick mittens,
but my limbs were already freezing, my fingers and toes were now numb.
And yet,
I was excited. I was overjoyed, and giddy.
Everything was different, from the trees, to the grass, to the houses.
The change in scenery, the transformation of the landscape, elated me,
despite the wind, and wet gray sky, and frozen extremities.
When the great yellow bus came roaring down my street, stopping at the end of it,
I jumped up onto the stairs, with my boots that had held me in place for several minutes in the snow,
and promptly tripped.

[allinian]

username: Kitsune.
floc name: Blizzard
something about winter: I love some of the specific feelings winter provides, so these lil poems are intended to campture them !

A comfy seat before the window, close enough to feel the whispers of winter that crawl through the glass;
the house is silent, save for the occasional howling winds that run alongside it.
The sky that sends them is gray, the perfect shade of gray,
gray like wool, gray like stone, gray like static, gray like a firm hand on your shoulder.
The lawn is a perfect white carpet, soaking up any ray of sunshine that mistakenly tumbles onto it
and reflecting it back upward like inverted moonlight.
The street is utterly desolate, devoid of life and motion,
and my mind is numbed as if it's filled with snow.
I feel alone in a way that I know I'm not,
the winter weather isolates me and passifies me at once,
transfixing me with its lack of motion.
I've not moved, I'm still surrounded by neighbors and birds and squirrels,
and yet I'm somewhere else, somewhere peaceful where I'm beholden to no-one and nothing, except myself.
Snow winter mornings like these, following a night of flurries, are always some of my favorite days.
Will I make snowmen in the yard? will I nap before the fireplace? will I run in the snow until I collapse into it with a satisfying crunch?
Winter offers possibility coupled with the release of responsibilities; snow days, cancelled plans,
amnd perfect quiet mornings.

The snowflakes are thick, and they fall even thicker,
an army of white flecks racing towards the ground, arm in arm.
The storm started hours after dusk, and the effect is hypnotic;
dazzling white stars drifting downward in sheets, starkly contrasted against the pitch black night.
The porch light illuminates the crowd of snow yards from the door, showing that the storm completely encompasses the house.
My eyes are drawn to the constant motion, my ears drawn to the harsh winds that claw at the siding.
The snow seems to send my mind backwards in time, breaking through the ice holding my memories of the previous year.
They pass through my mind like the same precipitate that falls outside the window,
and without realizing, an hour has passed watching the storm,
and reflecting. Looking back, I take the time to process the year in a way
I feel I haven't had in a long time.
But, like the very storm that summoned them, all of these memories, and this year, will pass,
they will fall, and stick for a while, and then melt away.
Cyclical, and yet always changing.

School wasn't cancelled. It wasn't even delayed, despite the snow on the ground,
painting the neighborhood white.
I stood at the bus stop, in boots and thick mittens,
but my limbs were already freezing, my fingers and toes were now numb.
And yet,
I was excited. I was overjoyed, and giddy.
Everything was different, from the trees, to the grass, to the houses.
The change in scenery, the transformation of the landscape, elated me,
despite the wind, and wet gray sky, and frozen extremities.
When the great yellow bus came roaring down my street, stopping at the end of it,
I jumped up onto the stairs, with my boots that had held me in place for several minutes in the snow,
and promptly tripped.

winner, congrats !!
these poems were written beautifully--they gave me a feel for winter--and made me laugh a bit at the end.

thank you everyone for your wonderful entries, i enjoyed reading them all c:
i hope you guys a wonderful winter (it it is winter where you are right now cx) !! =v=

[Kitsune.]

username: Kitsune.
floc name: Blizzard
something about winter: I love some of the specific feelings winter provides, so these lil poems are intended to campture them !

-snipped bc too many words lol-

winner, congrats !!
these poems were written beautifully--they gave me a feel for winter--and made me laugh a bit at the end.

thank you everyone for your wonderful entries, i enjoyed reading them all c:
i hope you guys a wonderful winter (it it is winter where you are right now cx) !! =v=

Aaaah!! Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed my ramblings abt winter : 3 wishing the same to you !