Against all logic I love winter, however I have never been able to reconcile this rationally. It's cold, it's dark and people in this city of mine can't seem to drive on ice, despite a lifetime of practice. Tonight though, I think I figured it out.

Spring, Summer and Fall are fine and all have their share of strikingly beautiful days, so much so that I think a lot of us take them for granted...They blend together into a beautiful season. Winter, on the other hand, may only have a few really beautiful days, where the precipitation, light and temperature all conspire together to give you a strikingly beautiful experience.

Tonight was one such night. After a disappointingly tight night at the pizza place I got home with more than a little chip on my shoulder, however I was struck by the fact that it was a perfectly beautiful night...perhaps the first of the season, and most definitely the first of 2009. Ignoring my husbandly and fatherly duties I strapped the skis to the roof of the car and went for the first ski of the year. The picture above sums up the experience rather nicely I think.

Even the tunes were perfect...My iPod was playing Grant Laurence's top 10 picks of 2008, which were all wicked, but the song below stuck out in my mind...as Grant said on one of the commentary tracks, it nicely sums up a commonality among Canadians...something which is pretty rare in this diverse country of ours.

*A note on the photograph; perhaps if I'm gonna take a picture, where I have to slog through a snowbank, I should leave the evidence of my slogging out of frame.

 

My New Year's resolution this year is to ski every day. Not exactly a difficult one, but one which has many consequences, all good. However Family and Mother Nature aren't exactly cooperating with me on this one.

Yesterday I had to go out and clear away Thursday night's snowfall, followed by a shopping trip with the family, the preparing of a gourmet meal, and the weekly family swim at the St. James Civic Centre.

Today there is simply too much new snow for my little narrow touring skis to handle...since the trails almost certainly won't be groomed yet. And I will be too busy clearing away today's snow from my properties to be able to ski then either...even if there were time I'm sure I'm gonna be bagged.

I do suppose this is all my fault though, since I spent a good chunk of November and almost all of December lamenting the fact that I could still see the grass on the ground. And I did tempt fate by agreeing to take over Bobby's snow removal properties while he is in Alberta...thinking it would be a breeze.

 

What a cute baby.