Winter is what you make it

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Ah, if winter comes can spring be far behind? We all have heard this old saw a quad-zillion times but, of course, it is true. As an aside, I have a friend who is of the school, "If autumn come can winter be far behind” and that just drives me crazy. O.K., maybe I should amend that and say:crazier. There are those who think I .... nevermind.
We had two summers that were brutal and I was reminded often that I was too old to be outside trying to work. Heat is not a frame of mind but is real. physical thing and one should be careful - even if one doesn't always appreciate being reminded about the passing years. Then when this winter vortex hit us no one, and yes, I shall repeat, no one had to remind me to stay indoors. Just when I was getting good at going outside and ignoring all the work that (may) should be done, we have temperatures down to almost zero.		 chelsea cook
The thing that is amazing to me is that there are some people who like those temperatures. Well, maybe not all that low, but lower than a normal person would like them.  
Several  years ago I received a mailing from one of our travel companies about a trip to Sweden which was at a tremendous price and at a time we could go. Herself, at that time, had never been to Sweden and expressed a desire to do so many times. So I made arrangements, booked everything and Christmas was set. Maybe the first and only time. There was one catch to this offer, however, as there almost always is when some “is to good to be true.” Sweden wanted tourist but they probably had enough for the warmer months. This trip was in mid-winter. So we packed up and flew to Sweden the day after Christmas. Yep, we went about as far north as one can go in the very middlest of middle winter.
Now you people who have flown, fly a lot or just occasionally read this carefully. We changed planes in Copenhagen, Denmark so we had to go into the airport to wait. A room just off the small lobby was set up for breakfast. It was a large, round buffet and it was for travelers to help themselves. It had half the breakfast foods known to man which could be displayed in such a manner. There was no charge, it was free to travelers, no money exchanged hands, etc. Recently in a New York City airport I was past the point of hunger for several reasons that do not matter, and I paid about $10 for a sandwich that would not pass requirements anywhere but in a USA airport. Yessir, it did curb my appetite but did not assuage my hunger. I thought back to the marvelous people of Denmark who obviously try to make strangers’ journey more pleasant and welcome them to their airport and country.
But getting back to winter, it may not come as a surprise to many but it was cold in Sweden. OF COURSE we were prepared and enjoyed everything except having to come home so soon. In my limited experience, I have found the Scandanavian/Nordic countries to be very friendly and, taa daa, they all speak English. We walked almost everywhere as Stockholm, like most European cities, is made for walking. Slip on your thermals, a nice Australian wool sweater and your favorite coat and you could go everywhere. The streets were free of snow so that, unlike most American cities, was no problem. But one thing just blew my mind.
The people kept apologizing for their lack of snow. The snow pilled up was from a recent fall. Now you remember my feelings about cold and know that they did not need to apologize to me. They  would tell us how beautiful it is and how nice to have lots of snow but no amount of assurances from me could convince them I really didn’t mind not having a few feet of snow. Here is another aside, we walked down to the castle to watch the changing of the guard. We had seen that spectacle in London for the British Monarchs so we didn’t want to miss this. This one was on a much smaller scale. They did not have the horses and falderal of the Brits but they had plenty of ceremony. We stood on a tall snow pile to watch which is something one could not do in London. Yessir, my feet got very cold but it was worth it.
I would do that trip again even if it is in the winter as I don’t believe that winter should be abolished -- except here in Oklahoma.