Winter has enveloped my city and just doesn’t want to let go.  It is near the end of February so technically it is still officially winter but this year, winter just seems to be longer than usual.

Why do we Canadians unceassingly complain about the weather?  Perhaps because it allows us to vent without being rude to any fellow citizens, or because it is a victimless crime, a helpful pressure release in a difficult season.  I don’t really know what we have to complain about quite frankly, and that is most probably why we do it, because we can.

This year, the roads were bare of snow until January, temperatures reasonable until then and brilliant sunshine almost everyday… but not now.

The cold is not so bitter but the wind is unforgiving.  Windchill factors of 35 to 45 degrees celcius below zero are a daily occurrance, chipping away at the appreciation and love we feel for winter, its sports and the dratted snowplows that bury the ends of our driveways so successfully.

A long cold winter reminds me that I have much to be thankful for.  I live in a modest older home, you know the type, triple-brick deep red in colour, smallish rooms, storied hardwood floors and random hot and cold draft zones.  I love my home, every inch of it, even the randomness of its heating situation during long and cold winters.

What I love the most is how a long, cold winter brings out the best in my home.  It makes me appreciate the warmth of the worn wood of the floors and bannisters, as punctuated by the toe-curling breeze that slips in underneath the doors to the outside; the rushing sound of the forced-air high efficiency furnace that acts as soothing white-noise to lull me to sleep and the excitement of finding a new warm ‘sweet spot’ in my home everyday.  My house envelops me in its cheeky embrace, warming my heart but freezing my toes.  It reminds me that nothing is perfect, not even the weather, and of how boring the world, my world would be if it were perfect.  No surprises, no hidden gems and no wonderful surprise discoveries.

I am powered by positive appreciation of winter and my old house.