It has been bitterly cold here the last week. I don’t think it’s really stopped snowing since Thursday, and I don’t remember it ever looking this much like winter in Calgary. Ever. We always get a bunch of snow, it’s cold for a week, and then a Chinook blows in and everything melts. Winter is, here, so often brown and muddy.

When I was a kid growing up in Saskatchewan, I hated winter with a passion. Absolutely detested it. It would start snowing in October, and not stop until May. The wind would blow through the city and freeze you – I still remember huddling at the bus stops, praying for something, anything, to come along and block the wind so I could maybe feel my forehead again. I was sure I was going to look like Celine Dion after a botox treatment, my face frozen in permanent surprise.
So I love that we get a reprieve here, because as bad as winter can be, there’s always that bit of sunshine to look forward to. It might be twenty below now, but next week it could be balmy and spring-like. Probably icy, definitely muddy, but a relief.

Still, for now I look outside my window, and the trees look beautiful. The snow and ice are clinging to the branches in a way you only see in the mountains around here. Everything is nice and quiet. I keep meaning to go outside and take a picture, and I’ve gotten up every morning for a week thinking today would be the day I’d look outside and discover everything is melting. So far, no dice. There’s hardly been a break in the snow.

I guess I get another chance tomorrow.