I have to be honest, I’m not a big fan of the winter. Although there’s a certain appeal to the freshness of winter cold, being cold in and of itself is a pain in the ass. I unfortunately find myself in the same category as the folks who complain about the heat in the summer and complain about the cold weather in the winter. This is the reason why I was less than enthused when I woke up to find the world outside my window blanketed in white, last Tuesday.
Nathan and I usually have a bit of a routine, when it comes to mornings. He wakes up and does his bathroom business, followed by getting dressed. By the time he emerges, I usually have some breakfast waiting for him, which he enjoys while watching some cartoons. This gives me the time to prepare his school lunch and get dressed myself. We end up leaving the house about ten minutes prior to his school bus’ scheduled arrival in the event that it arrives early. We’ve gotten used to this routine. We’re comfortable with it.
So nobody really batted an eye beyond mentioning that there was snow on the ground. My wife was working at her computer and Nathan was enjoying his breakfast and morning cartoons as usual, and I was checking the weather. At minus 10 degrees Celsius, it was a long ways away from being as cold as deep winter gets in Saskatchewan. But minus 10 with snow and wind was enough o convince me to slip on an Under Armour thermal for the journey out to the bus stop.
It wasn’t until I was ready to tell Nathan to shut off his cartoons and come get ready that I realized that I couldn’t send him to school in sneakers and a hooded sweater as he had been wearing in recent weeks. He needed boots, due to the snow and an actual jacket and winter hat to protect him from the cold. Suddenly I found myself in a mad scramble to locate these items as I hadn’t anticipated their need. If I’d been smart, I would have taken them out the night before. But these is me, we’re talking about! I consistently stub my toe on items that have been in the same place for years.
Saskatchewan is a bit of a different creature than my home Province of New Brunswick. Although we get some pretty significant snowfalls in New Brunswick (some years, I’ve seen snow get as deep as ten feet) we generally don’t deal with extreme cold. Winters are reasonably mild, despite the snow. But in Saskatchewan, there may be less snow but the temperatures can easily drop to -50 degrees Celsius or colder, once the wind is factored in.
We still made the bus on time, which is one of the benefits of always arriving early. But neither one of us was enthused about the cold. The last couple of days have seen us walking to the bus stop, as my wife is currently staying with family while our basement repairs take place. But that’s a post for another time. The important thing is I have us all wintered up, clothing-wise. Some of the snow has melted already, but it’s clear that winter may already be here to stay. ☯
The Blogging Buddhist 