Winter - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 2

I have decided to undertake one of Amy Coffin's 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History blogging prompts for 2011. For Week 2 the topic is as follows:

• Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

As we are in the middle of summer here in Australia, I thought perhaps blogging about winter would help me feel cooler in the expected heat today (the weather forecast is predicting a top temperature of 37 degrees Celsius where I am today and it is already 31 degrees)

Where I live, on the plains, we are not high enough above sea level and our weather is too mild, so we never have snow. Winter to me suggests green grass. I have been looking back through my winter digital photographs from 2004 to 2010 and have noticed that a lot of those photos don't show much green grass because we were in a prolonged drought. Good years usually mean green winters though.

We do have frosts in winter and the temperature can sometimes (not often) drop to as low as -7 degrees Celsius on very frosty nights.

A leaf covered in icicles after a frosty winter night 

The top temperature on winter days in usually in the low teens (degrees Celsius) but sometimes (not often) the temperature does not rise above single digits. Fog is also common on winter mornings.

A thin layer of ice covers the farm dam after a frosty winter night

Where I live we get most of our rain in winter (in June), which unfortunately also means boggy roads!

Winter rain unfortunately means boggy roads!

When I was growing up winter for me also often meant baby lambs as our sheep lambed in June/July usually. Sitting out in the sun is not really something I recommend in summer in Australia (it is too easy to get sunburned!) but in winter where I live there is nothing nicer than sitting outside on a sunny day! August, while it is technically still winter is usually more spring-like where I live - the wattle trees are blossoming and the flowers on the grasslands begin to bloom.

Late winter sees the wattle (acacia) trees in blossom

In winter my family usually eat cooked meals (pasta bolognese, mashed potato, soup, steamed broccoli or cauliflower or other vegies, beef steaks, beef rissoles etc.) while in summer we usually have cold salads. We have a wood stove in our kitchen for cooking and warmth in winter.

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