Le Vent d'Hiver

Blink and realize that the wind is stinging your cheeks, snow is sticking to your eyelashes and you can't seem to pull the earflaps of your hat tight enough. Le vent d'hiver - the winter wind - made romanitc by endlessly sung carols but one cannot deny the cold reality, not matter how tuneful.



Bad quality winter cell-photo; there is no way my real camera
is coming out in this kind of weather.

 Shadows an icy platform, waiting for a train that never comes. Such is the reality of a city that denies the existance of Canadian Winter year after year.

Yes, it's windy and yes, it snows a lot. I think we would all be better off if we stopped denying this fact and behaved as if we lived in a snowy region (those of us who do, in any case) rather than a temperate one.

I am as much to blame as everyone else, I put off donning my winter boots until the last minute but even I admit that it's no time for heels. Nor is it time for unclad heads and sheer tights under skirts shorter than one's coat. Those few are an exception; most level-headed people are practical about cold weather.

Besides, if I didn't live in a climate like this, what use would my hat-knitting skills come to?

There is always a bright side. And soon the moon will glitter over snow-laden branches beddecked in delicate lights. To me, Christmas lights will always represent seasonal magic; hundreds of tiny spells woven around ever-green branches.

Cookies are magic too and the holidays mean gingerbread! Can you smell them yet?