the cold season

the cold season has begun. the mailbox was frozen shut when I tried to open it tonight. we have had a bit of snow, but mostly cold, cold weather. the kids are bundled for school and daycare with mittens, hats, boots and big jackets.

while this sounds really crazy, Vic and I are continuing our running. he is dragging me out because my first inclination is to NOT do it. he bought be some cold weather running gear. it is a must. and yes, it makes a big difference. thank you, dear.

we ran on my lunch break today because if we wait till 5pm it is too dark. so, with -8 and -16 with the windchill we ran 5km today. and yes, it was cold on the face but my body was warm including my ears. it felt SO good to run and do this.

i have been feeling the seasonal cloud of angst that comes with the dark days and not getting enough sunlight. it made a big difference in my mood. my job is too stressful(in a good way) to not exercise, and even if it wasn't I would still exercise anyway. here's a photo montage of 3 months of running so far.

family walk

It is nice having Vic's cousin and his wife and two kids living in Salmon Arm now. Their kids are just a little younger than Sophie and Fynn, but close enough that they still share many of the same interests, toys, etc.

Lorelei suggested we come over to their place for coffee and then a walk down to Coyote Park (no coyotes that we saw). It really felt like spring was here.

here comes the sun, here comes the sun

Yippee! We had sunshine today.

We made sure to get outside and get some of the good stuff. Fynn loved it.

Vic did a big bike ride and later he took Sophie for a swim.
I think both of them are going to be asleep pretty quickly tonight.

winter

I am not really a winter person. Nor am I a summer person. I dislike weather extremes. I feel the cold in my bones. We get a lot of snow here and it sometimes feels like it is closing in on you. In reality, it really does because our streets get narrower as the snow removal crews pile it up on the sides of the streets.

But, I saw a little ray of spring today. When I came out of my office building at 5:00 pm tonight, it wasn't completely dark. It was like the darkness had been dialed down a couple of notches and it was just light enough that you could still see a bit of colour in the sky.

I am grateful that I live in a comfortable house, have a (mostly) warm office and am generally pretty comfortable all day long. In spite of my grumbling, I need to enjoy the moment. Winter has a reason.

* * * *
This little book came from Scholastic today for Fynn. It will be his little Valentine's Day gift. Hugs, sweet boy.

Snow - lots of it

Vic took these pictures tonight - in case there was ever any doubt that we lived in a snow belt. 3 feet on the ground and about 10 feet piled up. It is a bit crazy!

weather

the weather has been the big news all weekend.

look at the view from our front door. it's minus 5 degrees celcius but it is supposed to be warming up.