I love the crisp, cold air, the uncomforting ambiance, and the meditative experience of simply listening to my breathing and my footsteps. There's just something wonderful about seeing first snow coming down and seating on frozen prairie that nobody else has walked on. It makes me see what a tiny modest place I occupy in this earth. The snow itself is lonely and delicate but there is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one of nature's most fragile things and one thing only.