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When you're young, winter can be an enchanting season. Waking one morning to a world that's been transformed from the dreary landscape of leftover autumn into a wonderland of white is magical.  Adults need only look through the eyes of a child to discover the beauty in the cold and snow.  They look deep into the souls of Old Man Winter and Jack Frost to become fast friends. It's all just fun and games from then on. In wide-eyed wonder, they plough through drifts, despite being encumbered by bulky snowsuits and heavy boots. They plop on backsides, then fall back with arms and legs waving to imprint their angelic selves into the white fluffiness. Grabbing toboggans they run to their favourite sledding place, a communal spot for social and physical activity. On the perfect day,  snowmen and forts will rise from the ground. Passersby and imagined enemies must then be wary as snowballs are lobbed from behind the former and atop the battlements of the latter. These are

One of the first steps every morning for me is to check The Weather Network and find out the  temperature for the day. Since I walk to work,  in a frigid Canadian winter it's wise to be prepared.  Seeing that my hike today would be happening in a bone-numbing -17°C, I suited up and headed out into the prettiest morning I think I've experienced this winter.  Sunlight twinkled off frosted tree branches and the white blanket of snow covering the ground below glistened.  Though the crisp air burned the lungs initially, there was an invigorating freshness to it, waking up my senses and enlivening my brain. It was the kind of morning that reminded me winter really isn't all bad. Not to say that I'm not eager for spring, but I did have a moment's appreciation this day for the value of living in an area where there are four distinct seasons — even if each can suffer a little bit of an identity crisis from time to time. Seeing the value in three of them has always be

The corner of the world in which I live is painted by the hues of four seasons. Though the duration for each display changes year by year, we will always see spring's burst of burgeoning greens and pastels, the lively palette of summer colours, the vibrant shades of autumn and the white, grey and blue of winter. This winter has been a bit of a Pollock painting with splashes here and there of what the season should be. A mad rage, which turns the world a milky white, is washed away the next day with a grey drizzle, followed by one with a spot of cheery sun against an azure backdrop.  Since winter's official start date, we've experienced a spring of highlighted by wide range of temperature and  varying heights of snowbanks. It's been nice. Driving has been easier with blizzards at a minimum and the balmy days are a welcome respite from the typical biting cold. Yet, we have still enjoyed that impressive winter beauty. There's typically been enough snow to bla

Many folks in Canada are back to work after the first long weekend of the year, a celebration of the best thing in life to celebrate. Family Day isn't just a bit of a break in a dreary winter. It's an opportunity to enjoy that time with loved ones. For my husband and me, our family circle wasn't as complete as we would have liked as three of our children had work commitments. Otherwise, though, the time was pretty close to perfect. On Saturday, our son-in-law brought two of our grandbabies for a sleepover, then we returned the favour by taking them home the next afternoon. The treat for us that night was a fish fry, which our daughter has decided will become a Family Day tradition. Grandpa and I were awakened Monday morning by the best two little alarm clocks ever. Then it was off to a pancake breakfast served up by our granddaughter's nursery school, where I was told by Her Sweetness that there would be lots of other children so I should try not to be shy. Th