A Calm Blue Day

The cold has settled in, but truthfully - cold and calm is quite bearable and a little cold and windy is plain brutal. If you can see the almost verticle column of smoke on the right edge of the picture - thats proof that for the moment the wind has stopped howling and in another miracle (this picture was actually taken about 3 weeks ago) the sun is shining.

I'm fresh out of pictures at this time. I keep remembering my camera on boring days and forgetting it when the sky is unforgettably beautiful. But, somehow, I'll manage to pick up a few pictures. The weather forcast has the sun appearing at least briefly on 6 of the next 7 days. What that actually means is hard to say, but hopefully, it means that we'll get some nice skies.

I am finding that the days are just whizzing by. The last few weeks have been full of holidays and disruptions, but here we are entering the final unit of the term - with the christmas concert looming and me being woefully behind on even thinking about christmas shopping. Of course, after a life of spending christmas somewhere that was more than 1000 km from where I've lived nearly every year (save one) in the last 15 plus years, the art of doing all my christmas shopping in 4 days (thus avoiding carrying gifts all that distance) is well practiced, but I need a plan... but I think it can wait a few days.

Already, the gain of light on the way to work from daylights saving time is succumbing to the shortening days, and the final period of the day is nearly dark as well. I don't find the short days bother me - and thus far there have only been a few days where teh wind-cold combo have force me to wear my real coat. There is something magical about the crispness of a winter days - and yesterday, when passed on the way to the store by a snow mobile, the unique smell of the exhaust coupled with the crunch of the snow and the sound of the 2 stroke engine suddenly left me thinking of my first visit north in Repulse Bay. The magic of discovering another kind of world so different from my youth in the 'burbs of Toronto and even my experiences in the city of Thunder Bay, that while north contains more than 100,000 people and several walmarts, restaurants and grocery stores - while still being cold and snowy at times. I don't think I saw a snowmobile once, while living there, though I know there were plenty around.

My last bit of excitment was the arrival of my Rocky Mountain Soap Company order - a little whiff of the best smelling store in the world. I'm currently trying out the "Northern Exposure" soap. Not really very scented, its supposed to be good for dry, cold exposed skin and being oatmeal based, shouldn't bother my skin at the very least- so far I like it. I also got vanilla-candy cane scented lip gloss and you truly can't complain about that.