My Big-Girl-Snow-Pants

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200 words, adapt, Alberta, Calgary, Canada, changing seasons, cold, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, dress in layers, Life's like that, snow, winter

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.

Carl Reiner

Well it’s finally here.

I won’t be bringing a book, or note pad to go sit on a bench in the park to read or write while sipping a Grande half-sweet white chocolate mocha any day soon. And it will be months before I’ll be jumping on my bike to ride Calgary’s pathways.

There’s no more denying it.

There’s no more deciding not to wear socks, or not to dress in layers, or wear a warm coat. Winter is here and there’s nothing I can do about it. I just have to put on my big-girl-snow-pants, lean into the north wind, grit my teeth and plow through it. I don’t have a choice.

Yeah, yeah, I know some of you are excited about winter. You’ve been looking forward to sledding, skiing, snowshoeing, igloo building, icicle licking and whatever else you do in winter.

As for me… should you need me, I’ll be indoors, wrapped in a cozy blanket on my favourite chair, sipping hot chocolate and watching reruns of Island Life.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

How do you feel about winter?

The Blizzard…and I’m not talking Dairy Queen

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Calgary, Canada, cold, Diana Schwenk, helpful, Hump Day Chronicles, snow blizzard, winter

A few years back I bought a long, down-filled coat that zips, then buttons, then snaps closed. It cost me a pretty penny. As soon as I bought it I felt guilty about spending so much money. In the time it takes me to put it on, I’m usually overheating and need to rush outside to cool down. It is the warmest coat I’ve ever had. It only ever gets cold enough to wear, maybe, three weeks a year.

Gusting winds and heavy snow

When the blizzard, a potent mixture of moist air from British Columbia and an icy north wind, came in on Monday, I blessed the day I bought that coat!

Even with the coat, the strong winds blew icy snow into my face that burned like tiny embers from a fire. It’s cold!

I’ve been thankful that I don’t have to drive in this weather. It’s hard enough to walk! Some highways were closed down. And the town of Strathmore set up an emergency shelter and took in many stranded motorists.

The City of Calgary has quite the snow removal job ahead of them. One lady compared it to trying to clean the kitchen while the blender is running with the lid off. In some outer parts of the city, while they wait for city crews to show up in their neighbourhoods, people are shoveling each other out and those with 4-wheel drive are helping others get their vehicles out of snow banks .

It doesn’t surprise me though, as with the flood, when the poop (in this case snow) hits the fan, Calgarians seem to move into action!

The average temperature for this time of year is -1C (30F) The last couple of days we’ve been reaching lows of -30c (-22f) with the windchill. Although the cold temperatures will be sticking with us for the next several days, the storm has moved south to Montana (you’re welcome) before it comes back Canada way at the Manitoba border.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

So how’s your winter going?

A few moments in the cold

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Calgary, cold, courage, Diana Schwenk, Homelessness, joy, poverty, tattered coat, winter, wisdom

“Wisdom often lurks beneath a tattered coat.” ~ Caecilius Statius

It was a bitterly cold winter day.

The kind of day where I just wanted to stay in bed.

But it was a work day so I got my coffee, showered and dressed in layers – lots of layers!

I reluctantly went outside to start my car.

It took a couple of tries.

I was shivering and chilled to the bone.

I cursed the morning and muttered something about hating winter.

A few moments later I headed to work.

Once parked, I got out and began to walk the one block to my office.

I planned to walk fast, so as to spend the least amount of time outdoors.

But my path was blocked by a homeless man coming toward me.

He was struggling to push his shopping cart through the snow.

“Move!” I silently screamed.

As if in response, the man threw his hands into the air, turned his face up to the sky and said, “Isn’t it glorious?”

“Isn’t what glorious?” I snapped with irritation.

“The sun,” he replied.

It’s all about attitude

Have you ever been freed of petty grumblings by an unlikely messenger?

Isn’t it glorious?