Wednesday, January 25, 2006

O Winter, dost turn thy face away?

I miss winter. I miss the white fluffy, I miss the ice crystals floating in the air, I miss the chickadees chirping cozily to themselves as they hunt for food among my spruce tree branches. I miss the hare footprints on my lawn. I miss the blinding-sun-on-snow-bright-even-sunglasses-make-me-squint days. I even miss shovelling the walk. This has been a non-winter so far. We've only had one mildly coldish snap. It was too short, and snowless. *sigh*. I probably sound odd to almost everyone else, who seem to start pining for hot tropical locations the minute October arrives and don't stop till June ends. Well, call me an oddity. I LIKE winter and I miss it.

After all, I live in Calgary for a reason: we get winter. Lots of it, tempered by warm windy chinooks that make it all the more exciting when the next wave of coldness inexorably rolls in. I LIKE the fact that all the bugs die, that people have to be hardy souls to live here, that foreign-born plants get confused and die in our chinooks, that my nose bleeds because the air is so dry. I like bundling up and feeling toasty warm while my eyelashes freeze together and I lose all feeling in my cheeks. I like the little warm, wet patch from my breath on the scarf wrapped around my face. I even like the hat head I get from my parka. All because it means WINTER is really here, and all warm-weather loving wusses can just suck it up!!

This year has been useless. Have I mentioned it's been too warm? too bloody warm. No snow. no freezing. no nothing. I barely even need a coat to go outside. What if this climate change thing means NO WINTER??? I'll have to move north, I guess, though I think I'd miss the sun and be driven to drink like pretty much everyone else up there. Perhaps it's time to do a Snow-Goddess placating dance.

O Mighty One,
take pity
on your poor adoring
supplicant. Send snow!!

4 Comments:

Blogger Turtle Guy said...

I can't bring you snow... but how about some well chosen words?

The meadow lay glistening,
Like a sea of crystals and diamonds.
It shone in the morning chill,
And as you walk through it,
It crunches like fireworks.
It made you think of a sea of white wool,
And frozen air flew onto your cheeks.
Snow dripped from the trees,
and made a plop sound as it gently hit the ground.
Lumps of snow made a still ice-block,
And when you touched them it made
You think of sucking an ice-cube.
The snow fluffed out around the trees,
And made you think of sleeping on a
Feather bed.

From www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/schoolwork/snowpoems

You might also want to check out Elliot's words on frost:
http://elliotvm.blogspot.com/2005/12/frost-opus.html

Perhaps we're in for some wonderful spring snow in March...

5:02 a.m.  
Blogger Sarah Elaine said...

Pregnancy has messed up your brain! Bring on summer!

3:03 p.m.  
Blogger wthenrest said...

wow I never knew someone like you ever existed...well some people that lived in Siberia, but I thought it was just because they hadn't thawed yet... wow... can I take a picture of you to put in my scrapbook?

10:23 a.m.  
Blogger Bast said...

I simply cannot agree with you on this one. We had such an abysmal summer that we deserve this light and mood-enhancing winter. Do you remember the summer we had? Neither do I, because WE DIDN'T HAVE ONE.

Love ya though.

11:28 p.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home