It was at a Saturday morning breakfast--five days before the fact-- that
a panicked waitress warned me about last Wednesday's snow storm. She feared the 'snowpocalypse'.
It wasn't expected to be a horrible storm. Driving to my house atop the hill near Smith School in York shouldn't be a problem. Maybe nine inches, the meteorologist said. We can live with that. Keep in mind what Saturday Night Live legend Gilda Radner said in her skit-- "It's Always Somethin' ". You might as well learn to live with it-- or move to Sun City.
Venture outdoors. Explore. It's beautiful out there. Don't waste winter inside. But be safe and don't endanger others.
I smile at the bread-and-milk runs and everyone camping out in front of the television, watching afternoon soap operas. Now, safety is number one, and canceling school, keeping buses off icy roads is a good decision. But the idea of huddling inside-- afraid to step into the pretty snow-- makes me wince.
It's different up North in hockey country, the land of polar bears, Alex Trebek and Wayne Gretzky, the country jokingly called "America's Attic". Canadians look at cold weather differently than we do. They look at it as a challenge. Put on a heavier coat, a thicker pair of gloves, and they'll be just fine.
In Magog, Quebec, we ski at Mount Orford, have a most delicious dinner at Ranch Du Spaghetti Et Plus, and then visit downtown. Weather there is, um, exciting.
It's 10 degrees outside and the wind throws the falling snow sideways at the north shore of Lake Memphremagog. The person walking beside you can't hear because your words freeze and crash to the snow before reaching him. Contact lenses get icy. It's going to be a three-dog night.
But in all this, hundreds of people -- hundreds!-- are pushing their kids on swings (the kids have to lift their legs to clear the snow), sliding down a 20-foot pile of snow cleared from parking lots, playing fetch with their dogs. But most are walking along the lake's 1.5 mile walking trail, pulling sleds, pushing strollers, some fitted with skis instead of wheels. Or gliding on the iced skating trail that's adjacent to it. They're loving it. Smiles everywhere! But smiling is, after all, what they do best.
It's like early June in York.
So all the Magogians (?) make the best of winter and refuse to be forced into their houses. It's that way throughout much of Canada, where temperatures can get scary cold. Interesting fact-- four of Canada's largest cities, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City-- are further south than the rain belt of Seattle, Washington. (Did you know that Toronto was called York until 1834?).
Of course, up north, when weather is cold and snowy with such regularity, people dress for it, road crews have more plows and big-time snow-removal equipment and weather doesn't seem to be as big a conversation piece. At least, that's what I could understand-- it's mostly French in Quebec.
Check this video about Canada. It'll make you laugh.
A friend in Toronto giggles about our Snow-mageddons. Just like Yorkers all laugh when friends in Orlando whine about 40 degree temperatures.
Radner said 'It's always somethin'." If it's not snow, it's heat. Texans, bless their hearts, are thankful they don't have 6-9 inches of snow, much less the 6-9 feet of snow in the Rockies. But just wait until July when they are afraid to step out of their houses because of 110-degree temperatures that singe their eyebrows.
We'll be basking in only 93 degrees-- but with 70 per cent humidity. Yuck. I suffer through summer.
By the way, at breakfast this morning, that same waitress was warning anyone who would listen about the approaching storm. Snow and then a mix of rain and sleet equals ice. Now, that's a problem. Even SUVs can't steer on a sheet of ice.
Photos taken at 1/30, f16, 200 ISO. Top photo 200mm, bottom 17mm.
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