The Weather

Here's a picture from our balcony, a lovely view of downtown Oakville.

You'll notice the creek in the foreground is iced over. Nicole tells me that eventually the ice gets thick enough to skate on. Here's us on Thanksgiving Day last month, or as the Canadians call it, Thursday.





Suffice to say, we'll have a white Christmas.

I have several reactions to this weather.

First, it's not as uncomfortable as one might think. Living here means being prepared for the cold. So that's me, wearing a took. Unlike New Orleans, the buildings are well insulated. So it's not bad.

Second, the newly-fallen snow presents a kind of beauty that's new to me. On the first morning I woke to find it snowed over, I got up and walked to a coffeehouse downtown. The sidewalks and squares had yet to be shovelled or plowed, and I was one of the first to walk through it. As I told Nicole, it was a winter wonderland.

Third, a cognitive reaction has been to have great concern for the wildlife here, like this is a disaster for them. Observing that thought, I quickly realized that that's because I was used to seeing wildlife in an environment that rarely freezes. Of course, these animals are adapted to the cold. My favorites are the Canadian geese, large grey birds with black heads, necks, and wings. They fly low in formation, honking all along.