The Month Of Family: December 2021 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Budget Check-In, Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Investing, Keto, Net Worth Update, Spending
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I named this month “The Month Of Family,” but am now realizing that’s not completely accurate. I spent this month with my partner’s family who I have co-opted into my “Found Family” since we’re not legally related.

I’ve done a lot of thinking in my adult life about who and what I want to include in my life, and have come to conclusions that led me to focus on a few people and cut others out of my life. It’s been a very healthy thing for me and I wish I had done it sooner. Anyway, let’s see what I got up to with the fam in December!

We Moved To NY!

We moved from Santa Fe to New York on November 30th, which I thought would be far enough in advance of Christmas that the airport would not be a packed mess…unfortunately, I was wrong. I guess I didn’t factor in the abundance of remote workers that can now work from wherever and travel whenever they want – way to blow up my spot 😉 .

From my Insta Stories

Anyway, after a stressful flight (why is not dick-masking so hard for people?!?), we made it to New York and a few days later, took a COVID test to make sure we hadn’t brought any germs with us – it was negative and we breathed a sigh of relief. We were planning to hunker down in NY now that Omicron was surging around the globe.

When we first heard about the Omicron variant (which I not at all affectionately have started calling Megaladon or Megatron depending on my mood), we started canceling all of our extra plans. For example, we had RSVPed to a housewarming in NY State that we then declined and I canceled my plans to hop over the newly opened Canadian border to see my friend Mel from Modest Millionaires. However, despite canceling all extra plans, moving to New York when it was starting a COVID surge had unfortunate consequences.

We Had A COVID Scare

I’ll spare you all the gorey details, but we learned that someone we were in contact with had been exposed to covid and later tested positive. As a result, I had to find a last minute Airbnb for myself alone to separate from others and hopefully not catch COVID (I’m at increased risk of complications because of my asthma).

So for the first time, my advanced-planning self booked an Airbnb the night before I would check in. Then I moved into an Airbnb I sadly cannot recommend (I guess heat, a kitchen and windows are a luxury now?) for a week to wait out the storm. I am happy to say that I did not end up catching COVID, but I did feel under the weather and felt strange being alone in a little New York town while it was freezing outside. My usual coping mechanisms of running, walking, exploring and birdwatching were off the table since it was freezing and my apartment didn’t have windows I could see through to easily spot any birds.

While this obviously wasn’t an ideal situation, we all got through it alive, which I’m forever grateful for. And so that this section is not just a ‘woe is me’ tale, here are a few things I learned while in isolation:

  1. Sunlight Is Required: Outside of the overall sucky situation, not having any natural light in an apartment sucked – especially since it was too cold to just spend time outdoors to make up for it. I found myself not even knowing if it was day or night (which wasn’t helped by the sun setting at 4pm) – it was weird and I didn’t love it 🙂 . Give me all the sunlight!
  2. Connection Is Key: I talk a lot about how I’m a serious introvert, but even I can be lonely. My perfect balance of people/not people is basically my college dorm situation – separate rooms so I can be alone if I want, but also have friends nearby to bother if the need strikes me 🙂 . Since I was in isolation, my interactions with people were reduced to video calls and texts – and it turns out I need more than that over the course of 7 days
  3. Being Always Available: I now understand why someone would keep their phone next to them at all times. I wanted the connection because I was a bit starved for it so I welcomed any friend or family member text and kept my phone off Do Not Disturb for the first time in possibly my whole retirement. Instead of seeing texts as unwanted distractions, I looked forward to them. Oh how the tables turn.

So that’s what I learned in my week of isolation. I must say I was never more happy to move out of an Airbnb and rejoin my loved ones. This scare definitely added an extra level of grateful-ness to the holiday season.

I Experienced Winter…And Hated It 🙂

I haven’t experienced actual winter temperatures in about 3 years. I also haven’t been in the Northeast US to experience its lack of sunlight for about 5 years. So it was a bit of a shock 🙂 .

And as a result, it was not my favorite. As I mentioned, some of my favorite past times of sitting outside, running, walking and generally exploring outside of a car are not comfortable to do, so I’ve been trying to find things to replace those activities.

So far hanging with family in our house has been a nice replacement for this season, but I’m hesitant for us to spend another prolonged amount of time in a winter climate. I’ve become too spoiled living in sunny places for the last year 🙂 .

I Started A Roth IRA Conversion Ladder

When I created my master plan to retire early, one of the main tools I planned to use was the beloved Roth IRA Conversion Ladder. The FIRE OG Mad FIentist introduced me to this idea and explained it better than I ever could here, but basically it’s a way to slowly move your 401k/Trad IRA money into a Roth IRA so you can access it without penalties or paying additional taxes before you’re 59.5.

I planned to use my cash cushion and then my taxable accounts (which are about half of all my investments), while moving the rest of my money into a Roth. Then once the cash and taxable accounts were depleted, I would start using the Roth. Doing this also helps to reduce RMDs later in life. I like to think ahead 😉 .

So now that it’s my first full year without W-2 income, it was time to start executing some of these plans I had put in place half a decade before. This was the result:

Once I have all my tax documents and can see if I estimated my conversion correctly, I’ll write a whole post about what I did in case anyone else wants to do the same. The Vanguard website does have some helpful tips for how to do this, but I personally prefer to read about this from people who have done it before me. So look out for that post in the future. It will include screenshots (I love screenshots 🙂 and find them so helpful).

I Finished The Second Annual PurpleMas!

After the success of NaNoWriMo, I was able to get ahead on posts enough to do PurpleMas for the second year in a row! For the month of December, I wrote two posts a week instead of my usual one and it was a challenge, especially right after NaNoWriMo. As a result, I’m assessing if I’ll do this again next year. We shall see 🙂 , but overall wonderful comments like this do tempt me to continue this streak:

I Read 6 Books

This month I read:

  1. Broke Millennial Talks Money: Scripts, Stories, and Advice to Navigate Awkward Financial Conversations by Erin Lowry
  2. Simply Calligraphy: A Beginner’s Guide to Elegant Lettering by Judy Detrick
  3. Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work by Mason Currey
  4. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
  5. The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell
  6. Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe

And shockingly, this happened:

I actually did it! I completed my self-imposed 52 non-fiction books in 52 weeks challenge! I wanted to see how much I could learn in one year after constantly adding books to my “to read” list and then being too mentally tired to tackle them, and I must admit I did learn WAY more than I have any other year of adulthood.

However, this challenge was exactly that – CHALLENGING. I won’t be attempting something similar this year as a result 🙂 , but I am glad I did it last year. I’m planning to write a whole post about what I learned doing this challenge, but until then, if you’re curious about what I’m reading and my ratings of these books, I have a Goodreads account you can check out here.

I Wrote 9 Posts

In case you missed it, I published the below posts in December:

  1. How I Lived On $20,415 As A US Nomad In 2021
  2. The Year Of Flexibility: 2021 Goals & Accomplishments
  3. How I Made $11,520 While Retired In 2021
  4. The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021 Recap
  5. $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 9 “The Final Countdown”
  6. $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 8 “The Boring Part”
  7. $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 7 “The Goldilocks Zone”
  8. $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 6 “Searching for Bigfoot”
  9. $5K to Retirement In 9 Years: Year 5 “A Seattle Bait & Switch”

In addition to all that fun, I declined going on a podcast, declined the thousandth bitcoin shiller to reach out to me, declined an invite to an Instagram food influencers group and declined a partnership with a major brand that reached out to me. Maybe I should rename this month “The Month Of No” 🙂 . These opportunities either didn’t align with my goals for this site (hello crypto), or didn’t sound more fun than napping, so I turned them down. I hope I can keep up being protective of my time going into 2022.

Physical

Sleep

Sleep wasn’t sensational this month because I was sick and my asthma was not happy with this new cold climate. However, I once again reveled in being able to nap the afternoon away if I didn’t sleep well and generally go to sleep and wake up whenever I felt like it. Retirement really does have its perks 🙂 .

Food

Shock of shocks, I stuck to keto and calorie counting even while I was sick. Yeah, I’m surprised too 🙂 . Usually I look for any excuse to eat all the cheez-its my heart desires (it’s a lot…), but not this time. I’m not sure how I had the mental capacity to even decide that, but it happened and I’m ridiculously proud of myself.

Then going into Christmas, I intentionally went off keto and enjoyed all the gingerbread and festive treats the season had to offer. In the new year I’ll be back to my old ways. This balancing act might just work out 🙂 .

Exercise

Exercise wasn’t awesome this month, but not for lack of trying. When I put my mind to something, I’ve been told I’m a zealot about it and my new running obsession is no different. When we arrived in New York, I kept trying to keep my 3 times a week running schedule and my body basically revolted.

I post about my running adventures on my Insta Stories if you want a full play-by-play. I also have a highlight saved about my general running adventures. Anyway, my asthmatic lungs were even more unhappy about me running in the wet, cold of zero degree New England weather.

I tried a lot of things: wearing a mask, wearing a gaiter, going slower etc, but so far nothing has worked. I spoke to a doctor recently and they told me to listen to my body and stop running in the cold if my lungs aren’t happy and I was bummed about it. I need to look into another way to exercise until we head to warmer climates.

Mental

Learning

So it’s time for my favorite segment: Fun Facts Nobody Asked For! Here’s what I learned and explored this month:

Astronomy

This was a pretty good month for stargazing because I was in the middle of nowhere so it was dark enough. However, it was also super cold 🙂 . So while I had a great time looking at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Venus in the sky together along with the Cold Full Moon, it was too cold for me to stay outside long enough to watch the Geminid Meteor Shower.

Another cool thing that happened is that the James Webb Telescope launched! It’s now all settled in space and it’s way bigger than the Hubble Telescope so we’re about to see even more of the universe. So cool!

And finally, I learned about this weirdness:

Birds

The birds I saw this month were pretty standard since most birds went south for the winter and it was too cold for me to spend most of the day outside, which is my preference. Regardless, these are the flighty friends I saw this month:

American Tree Sparrow, Red-tailed Hawk, Black-capped Chickadee (one almost landed on my shoulder!), Common Redpol, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay.

I also learned that this freaky bird called a Harpy Eagle exists and is half the size of a human:

Pure. Terror.

Random

Here are some random things I learned this month:

  • Black panthers have spots – they’re just too dark to see
  • I saw a statue that was carrying its own head and my BIL told me that’s called a Cephalophore, which is Greek for “head-carrier” and in Christian art signifies that the person was martyred by beheading, which made me think of the Headless Horseman and the great film The Green Knight

Creativity

My creativity took an understandable hit this month. I was tired from NaNoWriMo and of course putting out double the amount of posts I usually do was challenging as well. However, the well never ran completely dry 🙂 and I was still excited to write my thoughts down and launch them into the world. I’m now excited to rest and fully restore my creativity well.

Emotional

Since I’ve confirmed that I dislike short days, clouds and darkness, I tried to combat that with time with loved ones. We’re basically in lockdown given how ridiculously high covid cases have become in the US and I’m glad that we have people in the house I can hang with so that it doesn’t feel like a prison sentence.

I also tried to go to my tried and true past times of running, birdwatching and enjoying the outdoors, but – It was way too cold for that unfortunately. Instead I’ve been enjoying indoor activities, such as reading, staring at our Christmas tree and listening to music (the latter of which always helps to elevate my mood).

On a more positive front, here are some fun revelations and interactions I had this month:

Money

In the final month of 2021, my money continued to blast into the stratosphere:

I reached a new net worth high of $759,058 and sat back confused at how I’ve arrived at this place after trying to retire in October 2020 with $500K invested and $40K cash. Life truly is wild and unpredictable. Anyway, since it was my first full calendar year of retirement in addition to the Roth IRA Conversion, I thought about further optimizing my investments by doing some Tax Gain Harvesting since I have so much tax-free room available:

In the end, the above sentiment won out. I did what I needed to do (the Roth Conversion) and didn’t do the rest. There were books, games and naps calling my name instead 🙂 . In my previous, career-filled life I would have yelled at myself for not taking the time to do the MOST OPTIMAL THING, but in retirement I don’t really care that much. Optimization like that used to be fun, which is why I did it. Now I don’t really care if I pay a little more taxes because I didn’t learn to tax gain harvest this year. There’s always next year 😉 .

Spending wise, I’ve already released by 2021 Annual Spending Report where I relayed that I spent $20,415 of my $20,000 budget. Not bad given all the changes and flexibility that was needed to be a US nomad in 2021. I’ll take being 2% over after not even consulting my budget before making financial decisions, such as these:

Conclusion

And that’s what I got up to in the last month of 2021 🙂 . With how uncertain our world seems right now I’m trying not to have any outward expectations for 2022 and to stay flexible as always 🙂 . Thanks so much for coming on this journey with me. I’ll keep you posted on what I’m up to in 2022. Until next time!

If you’re interested in the other weekly and monthly retirement updates I’ve written, they’re all here:

Weekly

  1. Early Retirement Week 1: The Freak Out
  2. Early Retirement Week 2: The Vacation
  3. Early Retirement Week 3: The Whiplash
  4. Early Retirement Week 4: The Heartbeat
  5. Early Retirement Week 5: The Election
  6. Early Retirement Week 6: The Trophy
  7. Early Retirement Week 7: The Train
  8. Early Retirement Week 8: The Challenge
  9. Early Retirement Week 9: The Question
  10. Early Retirement Week 10: The Game
  11. Early Retirement Week 11: The Recharge
  12. Early Retirement Week 12: The Holiday

Monthly

  1. The Month Of Rest: Early Retirement Month 4 (January 2021)
  2. The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)
  3. The Month of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)
  4. The Month of Atlanta: Early Retirement Month 7 (April 2021)
  5. The Month of Portland, Maine: Early Retirement Month 8 (May 2021)
  6. The Month Of New Hampshire: Early Retirement Month 9 (June 2021)
  7. The Month Of The Northeast: Early Retirement Month 10 (July 2021)
  8. The Month Of New York State: Early Retirement Month 11 (August 2021)
  9. The Month Of City Hopping: Early Retirement Month 12 (September 2021)
  10. The Month Of The Southwest USA: October 2021 Recap
  11. The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021 Recap

How was your month?

36 thoughts on “The Month Of Family: December 2021 Recap”

  1. “Megaladon” 🤣
    → For those who don’t know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon

    A co-worker got the original strain of COVID, and he has asthma (and was I think 58 years old at the time)…he pulled through okay, but he was out for like 3 weeks. Glad you’re okay after that scare!

    Congrats on the new high net worth! And I like the purple hair–very on-brand 🙂

    Reply

  2. An inspiring post as always, especially the book goals! Have read a few of your recommendations, and have definitely learned a ton.

    Maybe you’ll get a chance to learn tax-gain harvesting this year. Without Roth conversions or income, you have a gain space of over $50,000 at 0%. Given that it’s 2.5x your annual spend, I wonder if you’d even need the conversion ladder at all.

    But, on second thought, your perspective of just letting it go is probably healthier!!! You’ve got such a healthy cushion beyond your FIRE numbers now that optimizing taxes by $5k doesn’t really change much.

    Hope the winter doesn’t stay too brutal.

    Reply

    1. Learning is the best 🙂 and thank you! RE: Tax gain harveseting – we’ll see 😉 . I might be too distracted by the new birds I see in South America haha. I’m glad you think my current approach might be healthier – I continue being surprised how much I’m happy to let go of in retirement, hardcore optimization being one of those things 🙂 . And yeah in the long run, that small bit of optimization might not even amount to that much – you’re totally right. And thank you! I’m starting to enjoy the winter in January so that’s something haha.

      Reply

  3. I’ve got asthma and I’m 66 so I’ve tried to avoid Covid. Cold doesn’t bother my running that much but it also isn’t as cold here in the south. I think you’ve gotten confused on how to snowbird, Purple, you go to Arizona or Florida in the winter and New York in the summer!

    Reply

    1. Makes sense 🙂 . I’m glad your asthma isn’t bothered by cold running in the South though I would like to compare the temperatures here vs there 😉 . I was fine running in dry 30F in Santa Fe, but my lungs protest the wet 0F temps here. And yeah I did it backwards this time haha. In my defense, I WAS also in NY in the summer.

      Reply

  5. Inspiring post, as the others.
    Well, when I will retire early (not as early as you, but somehow as you) I will spend winters more in south because weather and D vitamin and walk are great for my asthma.
    Can’t wait to read how you explain us the transfer money from 401k/ investment accounts to you current account, how/what share you decide to sell first, and if you will raise the annual spending with the market raise. Again, do you plan to rebuild the cash amount? Do you keep the 2 years spending in cash, like the “common” retiree specialists are recommending?

    Reply

    1. Thank you Claudia! And that’s definitely a smarter approach to winter with asthma haha. I’m glad you’re looking forward to that post! I only own one index fund (VTSAX) so I don’t have to decide what to sell.

      Also I’m definitely increasing my spending – every year with inflation at minimum (so +6% this year for 2021 inflation) and overall as I age and need more medical care and (I assume) will want more luxuries in life. That’s built into my plan – I talk about it in my “Why I’m Comfortable Retiring With $500,000” post if you want more details.

      I’m not planning to refill my cash cushion to its current level (2 years), but instead set aside my current year of cash so I don’t have to worry about it month to month or quarterly.

      Reply

  6. I was just wondering the other day about whether you’re going to do things like Roth ladders and how you’ll get money out of your 401k etc (yes I think about you randomly sometimes 😂 ). I think I understand the theory behind these things but I’d love to hear how someone is doing it in real life, so I’m looking forward to your whole post about it.

    Reply

    1. Haha I’m honored you think of me randomly Aimee! And I’m so glad you hear you’re looking forward to the point – now I just need to write it 🙂 .

      Reply

  7. “My perfect balance of people/not people is basically my college dorm situation – separate rooms so I can be alone if I want, but also have friends nearby to bother if the need strikes me.”

    Are you me?!?! This is exactly how I feel – I need my alone time, but sometimes I want to be social!

    Reply

  8. Good job getting your Roth conversions done. That’ll save tons of money down the road. Next year, think Florida for December. We spent Christmas week near West Palm and it was fabulous – warm and about 2 hours more daylight than home.

    Reply

    1. Thank you! And yeah – when I was working my Mom and I would fly to warm places like Florida or the Caribbean for Christmas. I wanted to switch it up this year and have learned a lot 🙂 . And West Palm sounds like a lovely time!

      Reply

  9. Welcome back to NY! The lack of sun’s a real problem in NY right now. Though I’m currently reading the 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss and he recommends buying a blue light as a substitute for the sun to get into a better mood.

    I also find vitamin D (to be ingested with a meal, preferably a meal with higher fat content as it’s fat-soluble) quite useful as well in terms of keeping away illness and keeping my mood more or less stable.

    Definitely wanting to try out the ladder conversion – looking forward to your post talking about your experience with it!

    Reply

    1. Thank you! And that’s cool – I haven’t read that book of his and I did have a light substitute in college, but didn’t love it so I’m over here with my Vitamin D pills and soaking up the rare sun that shines through the clouds 🙂 . So glad you’re looking forward to the post!

      Reply

  10. I saw someone with gorgeous purple curls today, but I assume it wasn’t you — unless you’re spending January in Switzerland!

    Great post as usual. Glad you found ways to make the cold/ isolation bearable. I am definitely taking notes for my upcoming move to Québec!

    Reply

    1. Oh wow! Sadly that wasn’t me, but I wish it was 🙂 . And thank you! Good luck on your move to Québec.

      Reply

  11. Fab post as usual. Covid scares aren’t fun but at least this one is over! And you eventually spent time with family, that’s so important.

    Just one thing: panthers have spots!?!? WHAT. No! What?!?!?!? When was that little fact discovered?!?! I learn something new every time I come here, I swear.

    Reply

    1. Thank you! And yes indeed – I’m glad we all got out of it ok. And RIGHT?!?! I had no idea either. I’m so glad you learn something new every time and it’s not just me haha! I’ve tried to find out when the spots were noticed and it looks like it involved an infrared camera so it must have been more recently than not 🙂 .

      Reply

    1. Range was fine – it’s not one I was amazed by and would recommend as a must read. The argument is basically what’s in the subtitle 🙂 . And I’m not sure what you mean by decompress it.

      Reply

  13. I too have asthma (from age 18 until today, age 73). I finally figured out that a good Pulmonologist can give you great advice on how to manage you illness and, with a little trial and error, what medications are most effective for you. Everyone is different! Good luck.

    Reply

    1. That’s great! Have you had luck finding meds that aren’t steroids? Each time I’ve been to a generalist they’re prescribed them to me, which I didn’t love taking given the possible side effects. Great suggestion though! I’ll look at my schedule and see when I can set up a few months with a pulmonologist to try it out! Thank you 🙂 .

      Reply

      1. There are some nonsteroidal meds that are helpful for me, and also an inhaled steroid which has been helpful and does not have nearly the same systemic effects as “The Pills.” One of my docs, unfortunately now deceased, got me on a low dose of a really old school drug, Theophylline, which is also helpful. Lots of doctors don’t like it, but it works for me.

        Reply

  14. Excellent job on the reading 52 books. I’ve always had that aspiration, but fell short.

    I really enjoy reading these post fire updates. Gives a glimpse on what like will be like when I reach that goal.

    I hope you keep up on posting. They are always a joy to read!

    Reply

    1. Thank you! And yeah I wouldn’t have been able to do that unless I was retired for sure. I’m so glad you enjoy the updates 🙂 . I’ll still be here for a bit and definitely appreciate your kind words!

      Reply

  15. Love your periodic updates! I also recently retired early this fall and while happy to be a homebody for much of the time, am for frustrated by the recent omicron surge!
    I am curious though about your thought of NE winter and how it compares to Seattle winter? My mom grew up in the PNW and she hated the winters. She said that more than the cold it was the clouds/ no sun and early sunsets. (She is in Florida now BTW!)

    Reply

    1. I’m so glad you enjoy them 🙂 . Seattle winter…doesn’t exist haha. It’s basically NE fall. It never gets under 30F and basically never snows (and if does it’s for 1 hour and doesn’t stick). I didn’t mind Seattle winter compared to NYC. It’s barely more cloudy and I definitely hate bitter cold way more than clouds 🙂 . Similarly, I don’t mind the early sunsets in Seattle because in the summer the sun is up from like 5am to 9pm. It all evens out to me.

      Reply

  16. Glad someone else out there also sees merit in getting more creative with naming all the scary stuff that happens. Future covid variants, tropical storms, hurricanes, etc. should be named after either sci-fi bad guys or prehistoric predators.

    I know I’d be more motivated to take action if hurricane Vader was coming at me.

    But seriously, thanks for the update. Hope you can figure out a way to enjoy the outdoors despite the cold. I find it quite painful for the first 10-15 minutes, but with the right combo of clothing and movement things get better. Some really beautiful phenomena occur below freezing; totally worth it if you can get out there.

    Reply

    1. Haha fair point! And thank you for reading 🙂 . Unfortunately our time in the cold after 2 months is at an end and I don’t think I’ll be coming back for this amount of time again – I couldn’t find a way to love it. I guess my Georgia blood is too strong haha. I am curious about phenomena that occurs below freezing though – feel free to share your favorites and I’ll look them up!

      Reply

      1. I now feel like I oversold some of the below freezing stuff, as it seems mundane when I write it out. Despite that, I still think this stuff is beautiful, and cherish the temp dropping. Ultimately it’s just different versions of water freezing:
        1. Hoarfrost.
        2. Frozen waterfalls. Like super icicles!
        3. Frozen bodies of water.
        A. smaller ponds sometimes freeze so perfectly that you can clearly see all the way to the bottom. Walking across them feels like walking on air. It’s somewhat disconcerting but pretty cool.
        B. bigger stuff like the great lakes or oceans will freeze, but then have waves underneath. It’s mesmerizing. There’s an old Nick Cage movie called “The Weather Man” , which has some amazing shots of this along the Chicago coast. It’s like a metaphor for the movie’s theme; the splendor of everyday struggles between natural occurrences or something.
        4. When it’s snowing but the sun is out, if everything catches just right, the snowflakes shine with rainbow colors. This gets really cool if the wind is blowing in little spirals, making subtle colorful vortexes.
        5. Seeing people’s breath and steam in mass. If you go do like a 5k race or something similar where a whole bunch of people are exerting themselves in the same direction and kicking off heat, you’ll see mini clouds dissipating with the group. As I write this, it occurs to me that there’s some COVID implications to this. Yikes. Despite that, I always think it’s a pretty demonstration of the interconnectedness of us with nature and all that.

        That’s what I could think of off the top of my head, and I’m sure there’s more. I would think most pictures and videos on the internets would not do this stuff justice, and you’ve got to experience them in person to fully experience their depth. Or maybe I’m just a cold loving weirdo and seeing beauty in the climate I love. Anywho, hope you don’t completely give up on the cold.

        Reply

        1. Haha no – that all sounds really cool! Maybe my lungs will chill out soon and not freak out about the temperature. Being able to breathe would greatly increase my enjoyment I think 🙂 . If that’s the case, I’ll be sure to check those phenomena out!

          Reply

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