Schneeglitzern   I know there are some among you who can’t stand winter. It’s cold; you have to walk and drive carefully because the ground is slippery; and if you’re from Germany, you’ll have to get up earlier than normal to clear sidewalks from snow and make them safe etc. But whatever argument you might throw at me, you won’t convince me that winter is awful, because I simply love the snow, the beauty when everything is covered in white, and the snow is glistening in the sun. Ich weiß, einige von euch können den Winter nicht ausstehen. Es ist kalt; man muss aufgrund von vereisten Straßen vorsichtig im Verkehr sein und man muss in der Regel früher aufstehen, um Schnee zu räumen, damit die Bürgersteige sicher sind. Aber welche Argumente ihr mir auch entgegenschleudert, ihr könnt mich nicht davon überzeugen, dass der Winter schrecklich ist, denn ich liebe Schnee – wie schön alles aussieht, wenn eine weiße Schneedecke das Land überzieht und der Schnee in der Sonne glitzert!             …

Schneefallgrenze   The other day I told you about the snow we’ve been enjoying here. But also about, how parts of it melt away everyday only to be renewed overnight. In other words, we don’t have 10km of snow (like my niece used to tell me when she was little), but we only have a little bit of snow every day. And only the other day we made the connection: where we are it’s right at the snow line. If we lived only a few meters lower, most of the snow would be gone. If we lived a few meters higher, things would stick and pile up pretty good. I for my part, however, think, any snow is better than none, so I’m not complaining! Die Tage habe ich euch ja vom Schnee erzählt, an dem wir uns zur Zeit erfreuen dürfen. Aber auch davon, wie ein Teil davon jeden Tag dahinschmilzt und nachts dann aber jeweils wieder ein bisschen hinzukommt. Also nichts von 10km Schnee (wie meine Nichte uns erzählte als sie noch klein …

Schwarzwaldwinter   The Black Forest is pretty much one of the best places in Germany to be in winter. I remember when my nieces were still little and we were talking on the phone one winter’s day, and one of them earnestly declared that they had 10km of snow piled up around them (of course, they really did believe that 10km snow height was a realistic measure at the time!). At any rate, I understood that what my niece meant was that they had a ton of snow, which was a lot more than where I lived, somewhere up north. So, I’ve been excited these last couple of days that it has been snowing pretty much every night (though it’s warm enough that only a small part sticks to the ground throughout the day). But it’s exciting to see every morning when you wake up that winter’s still far from over and that we’ll be surrounded by winter wonderland beauty a little longer … Der Schwarzwald ist einer der besten Orte in Deutschland, um seine …