It’s impossible not to think “winter” when the forecast calls for a high temperature of minus 6 degrees.
Handy winter gear
You might wonder how someone in north central Wisconsin dresses with that forecast in mind. Easy; we layer on multiple tops and bottoms and keep hand and toe warmers at the ready. These motion-activated pouches stay toasty warm for about eight hours.
Appropriately dressed, brief periods outdoors can be exhilarating, especially because bitter-cold temperatures typically bring bright blue skies, which are a visual delight.
Rayven, ready for a walk
I love walking our Irish terrier in the winter – and even in the cold; she sports a spiffy L.L. Bean barn jacket – because the world seems so silent and still when the ground is snow-covered. It’s almost magical to make tracks in fresh snow while benefitting from the reflected light; it doesn’t seem dark, even at 5:00 a.m.
Team USA Snow Sculpture 2015 at the Woodson Art Museum
Team USA Snow Sculptors – Mike Martino, Tom Queoff, and Mike Sponholtz – certainly know how to make magic with snow and they’ll be doing just that at the Woodson Art Museum on Saturday and Sunday, January 23 and 24, from Noon to 5:00 p.m. Drive bys are one way to watch the snow sculpture progress, but it’s more fun to watch up close and talk with the sculptors . . . they love the interaction, so dress warmly and don’t be shy.
If you’re not inclined to bundle up for a longer period outdoors, consider exercising body and mind inside the Museum’s galleries. With light-filled American Impressionist paintings on view now through February 21, a visit to the Woodson Art Museum is a sure cure for winter blues.
Robert Lewis Reid, Summer Breezes, ca. 1910-1920, oil on canvas
And with daylight noticeably longer, take heart, it will be spring before we know it!
