Monday, January 16, 2012

Cold Weather Fun

This is Merrillee, and I'm wondering what you like to do for fun when the weather is cold. I live in Florida, so cold to me is anything below fifty-five degrees. Here is what my winter looks like. We have sand dunes instead of snowdrifts.



But I wasn't always a weather wimp. I lived in Montana and South Dakota when I was younger, so I know what cold is. I spent a few hours in Fargo, ND, one winter when it was fifty below zero without any wind chill. Now that is cold. I don't think there is anything fun about that kind of cold.

The setting for my latest book is Montana because I intend to write at least one book set in every state where I have lived. I remember Montana winters with lots and lots of snow. I walked to school dressed in so many clothes that I probably looked like the Michelin Man.

I made angels in the snow.




I built snowmen and ice skated until my feet felt like bricks.



I used these and other memories to depict winter fun for my hero's twin daughters.

My hero and heroine go snow skiing--something I never did until I was much older and not living in Montana.







Of course, Montana has some beautiful scenery, which is depicted well on the cover of my book, Montana Match, which is out this month.



So what do you like to do when the weather is cold, or do you prefer your weather warm?

30 comments:

  1. I live on the Texas coast and that picture of your winter looks like a scene from my winter also. I have never lived in an area where there was more than just a few flurries and where the temperature dropped below the 30° mark for long. Not sure I could survive in that climate.
    I prefer my temperature above freezing.

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  2. My winter sport is watching the snow fall. :-)

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  3. That's a pretty book cover, Merrillee. We're here on the NC coast, so the winters are milder than in my home state of Tennessee. Still, I wouldn't mind moving further south! Snow once a year is plenty for me :)

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  4. We're just coming out of one snow storm and heading in for another and cold temps to boot. Brrrrrr. My favourite cold weather fun is reading books about characters enjoying cold weather fun! :-) Sounds like I might just have to pick up yours and hibernate the next blizzard away snuggled up with it and my dog (the breathing hot water bottle).

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  5. Yesterday my son and I took an almost two hour bike ride. Me, in light jacket. Me, holding his light jacket while he rode in just a Tshirt. In AZ, we think 50 degrees is cold. Of course, I'm Nebraska born and raised. Me thinks some of my friends here in AZ are weather wimps.

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  6. I live in the north - north Louisiana that is. So snow is a novelty for us and I enjoy it when we get it - as long as I don't have to drive in it. It's such a rarity around here that whenever we do get even a dusting it shuts everything down.

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  7. I am awed that everyone reads these blogs before 10 am. Ugh. My brain isn't in gear until noon.

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  8. I agree with Kav, and am in the middle of the same weather--great for reading and writing!

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  9. My winter sport is having a cup delicious cocoa and a good knitting project. Having my cat with me is cozy too.

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  11. I like the cold. I welcome the cold and the general (and safe) Winter chaos. I know it sound a contrasense - chaos+safe - but what I mean is I enjoy Storms, Winds, Lightening as long as there is no harm done.

    Unfortunetly I don't have snow where I live in but - baring to have to dig your car to get to work ahahahah - I would love the experience.

    I don't do anything special when have time and cold weather. I cosy up and enjoy strolls, enjoy my garden, enjoy long and warm days by the fire.

    And no I couldn't live with a permanent Summer. No way.

    So in love with your Montana Match. I can even say - dare - that your writing changed from the first books I read and I love the new Merrillee.

    Thank you - and I say it from the heart - for creating Montana Match. The main characters are endearing, no one writes about twins like you do and you really love girls (one can tell) and all the secondary characters make us wish them the best too.

    You (and all your readers) have a Winner in their hands with Montana Match. And the cover is lovely!!!

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  12. What do I do when the weather is cold? I whine! LOL

    I love hot weather.

    Merrillee, your photo of the beach made me want to go so badly!! Vacation and our beach trip is too far away to suit me.

    Great cover!

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  13. where I am I to consider below 55 cold. Thats about our average in Winter where I live so its not like it is where it snows. I have never seen fresh snow or seen it fall.
    I dont really like winter cos its wet and cold but tend to do alot of reading too.

    but it is hard to think cold where we are about to have another day over 100 and its currently about 80 at 7am and rising fast.

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  14. Ellentoo, I think if you have never lived in a cold climate the adjustment would be difficult. I grew up in cold weather, but once I got away from it, I didn't like to go back.

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  15. Lyn, that would be me, too, if I lived in a cold climate.

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  16. Karen, thanks so much. My daughter went to college in NC, but inland at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.

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  18. Pamela, you haven't turned into a weather wimp?? After visiting AZ in the summer, I'm impressed.

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  19. Winnie, we actually had a snow flurry here last winter. It was way below normal for most of the winter. This winter is much more normal, thankfully.

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  20. Leann, you made me chuckle because I'm like you--not really into reading blogs before 10 AM. I'm so glad we can write these and have them post at a later time. :)

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  21. Kav, I loved your description of your dog. When the weather is cool, I like it when my cat snuggles on my lap. If you read my book, you'll find a blizzard and a dog.

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  22. I live in Arizona, being a transplant from Chicago. I don't like the cold. When we do want to see snow, we head north to Flagstaff. So bring on the heat! Beautiful cover Merrillee. Many sales.

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  23. I live in SE WI. I've only ever lived in SE WI and Minnesota. I went to college for two years in NORTHERN MN--brrrrrrrr!!

    I was doing my student teaching in the Twin Cities area in the winter of 1995-96 and it was so cold temperature wise that the Governor of the state called off school for the whole state!! I think it was like 40 below zero, then there were added in wind chills.

    I'm not a huge cold weather person as far as doing things in the snow. My hubby and son #1 snowboard. Son #2 skis. I stay home watching football and reading a good book! :)

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  24. Sandra, I do believe bad weather would keep me indoors and writing rather than out working in the yard.

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  25. Victory, cocoa, knitting and a cat--a good combination.

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  26. Teresa, thank you so much for your kind words. Since I have two girls of my own, I think you are right that I like girls. I grew up with three brothers, so it was nice having girls around for a change. But I have nothing against boys. After all, we have to have heroes. :)

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  27. Missy, thanks. You should come visit our beach sometime. It's a good one. And I whine when it's cold, too.

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  28. Ausjenny, it's definitely summer time down under. I've been watching the Australian Open, and I can see that the tennis players are hot. When it is 80 degrees at 7AM, it's going to be a hot day. That reminds me of the years we lived in Texas or when I go visit my daughter in Arizona.

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  29. Kim, thanks so much. We used to live near Chicago, too, and my daughter lived there for a couple of years. Our granddaughter was born there in December, and it was really, really cold that year--below zero. I thought I was going to have frost bite when I took off my glove to answer my cell phone. I like visiting them in Arizona much better.

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  30. Tracy, it has to be very cold to get school called off in those northern states. When I lived in SD and Montana, we never had snow days. When I was teaching school in Ohio during the late 70s they called off school because of blizzards and cold and the lack of gas to heat the school. We were off for a month and had to go on Saturdays and lost our spring break to make up the time.

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