When snow falls, nature listens. ~Antoinette van Kleeff

And now, just so I don't look back in the hazy heat of summer and wish I'd appreciated the snow when I had it...

Brew me a cup for a winter's night.

For the wind howls loud and the furies fight;
Spice it with love and stir it with care,
And I'll toast our bright eyes,
my sweetheart fair.
~Minna Thomas Antrim

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr. (No, that's not my house. Yes, I wish is was. Yes, it would be too small.)

In winter, when the world is simplified, the subtler and humbler beauties can appear to us...Red holly berries, or rose hips on their dry canes...Even a blue jay stands out. The simplicity and starkness of a winter scene bring to our attention creatures we overlook in other seasons. The beauty of such small and humble things is an especially important expression of holiness for us, who are so easily impressed by size and ostentation. ~David Rensberger (No, that's not a blue jay. No, I'm not color blind. I live in Indiana, so I'm representin' with a cardinal.)

When the bold branches
Bid farewell to rainbow leaves -
Welcome wool sweaters.
~B. Cybrill

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ~Edith Sitwell (No, I don't have a fireplace. Yes, I dearly wish I did. It's a long held dream of mine to get to frequently use a fireplace. Sigh...)

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout (Quiet stretches? Maybe she doesn't have children. Maybe I should go to the country.)

Have a lovely winter day!

Dear beautiful Spring weather, I miss you. Was it something I said? ~Kim Corbin

While not a new & original sentiment, these are the thoughts that have been teasing me for the past week or so...

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair... ~Susan Polis Shutz

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~Emma Goldman

Flowers really do intoxicate me. ~Vita Sackville-West

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~James Barrie

To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat. ~Beverly Nichols

The really nice breezes blow through my body and into my soul. ~Astrid Alauda

Of course, those open windows don't have quite the same effect in mid-January. But ten or fifteen minutes at a time can do wonders for relieving that trapped-in-the-house feeling.