Contest: ENTER Misc Avatar Contest: The Winds of Winter

[Marynator]

Hello, I'm so sorry my contest is coming up late, things have just been so busy lately!

I don't know about all of you, but this weekend I had lots of snow where I live, it feels like winter is already here! Oh but it looks so magical outside right now, so much snow everywhere, but roads are all clear and it's just barely at freezing, so it's the time when you can really enjoy the beauty of the season without all those nasty parts.

So well anyway, I'm really feeling in a winter mood, so this week's contest is winter themed. Please share anything you love about this season, or even something you don't enjoy so much, but will be on your mind as cold weather and everything that comes with it falls upon us.

Usual contest rules, one entry per person, 200x200 pixels, less than 2 mb in size, and no media please

My entry is a family sleigh ride:

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Just enjoying the view of my hometown of Freiburg in the snow:

 

[DimesDan]

 

[auntiehill]

It doesn't get that cold here; when it does get cold, it often does not stay cold for long. What I love about winter is snuggling up on the couch with a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

 

[RunningValkyrie]

My entry

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, I love hiking/snoeshowing whatever the weather, and every thing I enter here I try to have be pictures of things I've taken myself. That said, this is of a beaver lodge on one of our hiking routes. Water frozen over, you can just imagine a beaver making itself cozy.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

^May I suggest you start over from the original pic and crop it more in wideth? You might lose something on the side, but what will stay in the image will be bigger after you've scaled it down to ava size. Because, to be honest, it is quite small.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I considered that but I couldn't quite fit it into the dimensions I wanted, and I wanted to capture the entire thing. Otherwise with it cut off, it loses something.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Ok, so tried again. Any better? I cropped it at 200x150, which I think works pretty well. Also played with the contrast.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

^cool pic! You must have very busy beavers in your region. The ones here in Lower Bavaria are complete lazybones. They dig a nice warm lair in the ground with one tunnel to the river and an emergency exit on the land side. Then they lay a few branches and twigs on top of it and call it a day. The beaver lodge above ground is usually barely knee high.

The best thing about winter imho are the cookies!

 

[Marynator]

Thank you everyone for entering! Voting thread is up and ready!

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/misc-avatar-contest-the-winds-of-winter.296984/

 

[Owain Taggart]

^cool pic! You must have very busy beavers in your region.

Yeah, they certainly are! I'm always comforted to see beaver activity on our hikes. There were times when I've been feeling concerned that I haven't seen any for a long time, but then they'll surprise me with newly gnawed at tree stumps. Interesting to hear about your region's beavers. They must be a different species.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Indeed they are. Yours are larger and have higher legs and rounder heads with more massive lower jaws. Also, the American species tends to have a darker fur (particularly the underfur/wool) than the European one. Paradoxly, ours have more hollow hairs and thus a slightly warmer fur even though Canada is colder than Northern Europe. I think the different hair structure in the upper fur layers is a way to compensate the lack of warming (sun-absorbing) dark colour in the underfur.