Snowflakes

Winter has been my favourite season for many years now. I know this because there are many things I have always loathed about Summer, particularly as a teenager. I am prototypical Summer-red-head: sticky with Factor 50, covering as much flesh as possible from the embarrassingly-painful-red-skin inducing powers of the sun, with shield-your-eyes-from-the-glare skin that does happen to be on show (and no, even fake tan doesn't work it's so pale). Add severe hayfever to that, and you've got a girl who has to either lock herself indoors from the pollen or cover up completely to avoid being scorched. Summer was never a high point. A high point for jealousy maybe, but not for self-esteem.


[NEVER FEAR - I am cured of this. I now (pretty much) embrace my whiteness as giving me a 'unique factor' (which I will also appreciate when I'm 40 and still have great skin), and I am no longer utterly convinced that having a tan makes you automatically desirable to every man you come across (kind of)]


Winter is my season, and I think I can pin most of that down to the existence of SNOW!
Stepping out into the crisp, cool air of Winter wearing fifteen layers and the brightly coloured hat/scarf/gloves combo of the day after an overnight snow flurry - wow! 
I used to walk through a hilly field every day to get to my school bus stop, and I just couldn't wait to get to it and see the best side-effect Mother Nature's cold weather covering the country landscape.

Why am I so fascinated with snow? I'm not sure. Isn't everyone? I always thought it was because snowflakes were beautiful, then I grew older and realised that they only make other things appear beautiful - even with your greyest, most litter-ridden or decayed street or building, a lick of the ode snow-paint and there appears a transformation before your eyes. It changes the things you see all the year round into a completely new enchanted world. Okok, I live in Stoke-on-Trent, maybe 'enchanted' is the wrong word - there is only so much snow can do. But you get my point.


Maybe, as with torrential rain and such like, my fascination comes yet again from Hollywood? It would make sense, right? Snow makes EVERYONE happy in the movies! People slip over and everyone has a good chortle, people ice skate and fall in love, there's so much fun and laughter to be had when it snows in the movies!

I was wondering today though...we've all made those pretty, angled, pieces of snowflake art with just a piece of paper and scissors to put up in our windows and around our living spaces, but I've never actually seen a snowflake look like that - have you? They're just teeny balls of smushy, frozen water, right? Have you ever actually seen a snowflake that looks like it's 'supposed to'? FOR REAL?

But guess what...

I was having a wee browse through all my yesteryear snow pictures, and look what I found...

Take a good close look. Click on the picture - make it big!

I kid you not - THAT is a genuine snowflake sitting pretty atop a snowman one of my best girlies and I made on a college snow day.

THEY EXIST!

It rained today. In fact, it is raining as I type. Do you know what this means? The foot and a half of snow that I've woken up to every morning this week has now GONE! Driving has been a nightmare, which I admit has kind of ruined the magic for me this year (is that called growing up?), but if Mother Nature can't provide me with a tan and a pollen-friendly nose, the least she can give me is snow. Now she just needs to work on avoiding the roads and allowing frail people to walk on it with invincibility.

I hope you all enjoyed the snow and kept safe! Next time, make it your mission to find a perfect snowflake - not a fluffy ball of frozen water - a genuine snow crystal.

Meanwhile, have fun making your own snowflakes with paper and scissors, and online here:

Snowflake Maker