And now we are back to cold, windy walks – an inevitable feature of life where winter lingers.

You need to acquire a taste for the cold – the way, for example, people keep telling themselves they like Negronis. If you can’t find a way to make the most of the cold, you are going to be grumpy and uncomfortable here at least 5 months of the year. And some would say 7 months because there are no guarantees in April or May. (Another thing about the cold – it gives you something to write about. Just ask Garrison Keillor.)

One thing about taking a walk in the cold – you feel like you accomplished something. That’s the trick I play on myself to make it worthwhile. Olbrich Botanic Gardens is my favorite place to walk during the winter. The gardens are guaranteed to get whatever wind is coming off Lake Monona. Once the lake freezes, that wind is 100% ice. So you’d think you’d want to hurry through the gardens just to get your walk over with. But that’s not the case at all.

Instead, you stop to say hello to all the things you have not seen since the last Ice Age. Seed heads reflecting every speck of sunshine in their feather-light curls. Deep red strands of willow, busy with ground-nesting birds sheltering at their base. Stand-tall stems of hydrangea and viburnum, their brown flower heads perfectly preserved by autumn’s dry chill. Thick-berry branches of crabapple, and weeping trees – maybe almond, maybe beech – spreading their curtain for theblossoms that are waiting in the wings.

It was a gorgeous day in the gardens. My ears are still a little cold, though. I can’t say I mind all that much.