Winter...going, going...

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Okay - it's not gone just yet. And my husband keeps reminding me that it once snowed on Easter Sunday (dang, let's hope that doesn't happen, it would ruin my new patent leather Mary Janes!)

As much as I love spring - and I will be yakking about garden ideas on Wednesday - I will miss winter. (Although I won't miss even the little bit of shoveling that I do myself. That's my house below and it has far too many paths the snowplow guys can't reach!)

I can't imagine living any place that didn't have four distinct seasons and apart from hosting my birthday, my husband's, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year's, the Oscars, the Philly Flower Show and Mardi Gras, winter's the time we get to wear great big sweaters and tall boots. Scarves. We can generally eat and drink with reckless abandon since who's going to see it under all those layers?? Thick soups, hot chocolate - go for it! Roberta's cassoulet, Jan's toffee candies - count me in.
But it isn't just the food.

So here they are, The Top Five Things I Will Miss When Winter Finally Ends5 - Wearing my black Uggs around the house. They've been the unofficial signal that I'm home and I aint goin' nowhere.
4 -  Collecting kindling and bringing in firewood. I always feel like Olivia Walton when I do this and - go figure - I love it.
3 - Irish Coffee. Where has this drink been all my life? It's probably fattening, right?
2 - Snowshoeing. My new fave activity (to counteract the Irish Coffee.)
..and the top thing I'll miss when winter ends
1 - Sitting by the fire with Max the dog and a good book.

What about you gals?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What I'll miss about winter? Ah, sweaters. Big mufflery scarves. I love my plaid flannel "lounge pants."  I love sitting in the big chair with a book and a big fluffy blanket. And yes, indeedy, my black uggs. And no, Irish Coffee can't be fattening. Can it? I mean--it's hot. So any calories would, like, automatically burn off.
Sigh. It is going by awfully quickly, though...

HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, there's not a lot that I will miss about winter.
I'll miss a little:
Homemade soups -- split pea, minestrone, white bean and tomato, black bean and cilantro, whatever's in the refrigerator...
Roast chicken with roasted veggies.
Medium-dry sherry before dinner.
My wonderful warm quilt.
Yes, my Uggs -- like having permission to wear my bedroom slippers in public.
Not having to shave my underarms? I know, TMI.

ROSEMARY: Sherry before dinner...that's so civilized. I saw that in a movie once...;-)

RHYS BOWEN: Winter, what's that? Oh, you mean snow and stuff. I may well experience a tiny bite of it next week when I'm in Colorado Springs. But being a total wimp, we escape to Arizona for the winter where we enjoy blue skies, the pool, desert sunsets, eating outside. Having grown up in England in a huge house with no central heating I could not wait to escape from winter. Even California is too dreary and wet. I don't mind crisp mountain snow and hot chocolate and big roaring fires, but when we were home in December it seemed that every time I wanted a big roaring fire it was a spare the air day.
But we do make soups in the winter months, and I have oatmeal for breakfast. And Irish coffee is good any time!

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm with Hallie and Rhys, there isn't enough appealing about winter to make me want to endure the pain. Yes, the snowstorms that hit New England looked spectacular in photos. And I wished I could be there--for about a day. Otherwise, it's a Key West winter all the way for me--where we whine a little if it drops below 60...I'll stop yakking for fear I'll get stoned:).

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I've got a pair of snowballs with your names on them, Rhys and Lucy.
I'm laughing at all the Uggs - my pair is tan. We New Englanders know Uggs are for wearing inside, not outside! What do I miss about winter? Definitely the stews and soups. I love winter root vegetables in almost every form. I'll miss what I think of as December snow; when it falls in fat flakes and everything looks so beautiful covered in white. Of course, by mid-March it's all gritty and lumpy, and I can't wait for it to finish melting.
I miss our woodstove fires, even though keeping them stocked is a P.I.T.A. Ro, maybe I'll try to think of myself as Ma Walton next time I'm hauling boxes of wood upstairs. And I'll miss my cold bedroom, which necessitates sleeping tucked in close to Ross. You know which state has the lowest divorce rate, right? Massachusetts. I'm convinced it's because New England spouses have to stick together for body heat.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We had our little Texas experience with real snow over Christmas--it lasted almost a WEEK! And boy, was I tired it... But I do love our fires, and playing outside with the dogs on a crisp day. And I adore soups. The first nip of autumn in the air and I'm making some kind of hearty soup. Wait, I take that back. The first thing I do is get out the fluffy down comforter.
One more thing--bare trees against the backdrop of winter sunsets.

ROSEMARY: I was about to add that like Ross apparently, my hubby also generates a fair amount of heat but Hallie would say TMI!
Besides, body heat seems to be a distant second to - UGGS! What about the rest of you..what will you miss?

She claims not to be adventurous - but we don't believe her for a minute. Make sure to stop by tomorrow when the adventurous Dana Cameron visits. She'll be giving one lucky commenter a signed copy of her lastest, Seven Kinds of Hell.