The Review: Winter Edition

Well, well, well. It is with the heaviest heart that I am bidding farewell to wonderful winter. I fell madly in love with the cold and snow this year and I have been dreading having to say my goodbyes since early February. Winter, my little time lover, I will pine for you until we meet again. This here is a review of the white season on some of the lovely things that we discovered and shared.

Music Awards

1. Fleet Foxes: Best Winter Soundtrack
I am pretty sure that these guys were cut from the fabric of the noble icicle and the tender snowflake. All winter they have enchanted me over and over again. They make the cold seem so far away even though it isn't. They keep me warm.

2. Pat LePoidevin: So nice. So so so so nice. Perhaps the nicest nice around
I think I have fallen in love. If I disappear in the near future it is probably because I have gone to New Brunswick to live happily ever after with this fellow.

3. The Head and the Heart: Best songs to get stuck in your head (and heart)

In highschool I always had ABBA stuck in my head. It was on a loop for close to 3 years. I hated it. In the last few weeks these guys have been bumping around in the Ol' Think Can and I gotta say I find them beyond delightful. They are welcome to remain stuck in my head throughout the springtime.

Gimme your eyes

Some of the winter-scapes I have come across this year have been so stunning that I wish that everyone I love could be able to see them. It makes me want to borrow their eyes. I have spent countless hours on Grey Road 2 this winter driving between home and work. This old road knows how to showcase winter. I have almost driven off the road, done U-turns and even stopped the car trying to take everything in. I think what makes the road so incredibly special is it goes up 1000ft from Georgian Bay to the top of the Blue Mountain Ridge. You can see for miles and miles over sprawling farmland, forests, valleys and way way out across the Bay. It seems like at every bend in the road or at the top or bottom of a hill there is endless beauty. Words will never do it justice. Over and over again this winter Grey Road 2 has made me feel very lucky to be alive.

The Free Spirit The free spirit belongs to my neighbour’s dog Sophie. I call her wolf-child because that is what she is to me. She has the eyes of a wolf and the body of a dog and I think that she is a mixture of both on the inside. She is a wild and independent soul. She always sneaks up on me, whether I am walking the dogs or going on a cross country ski. She literally emerges from the forest and does her beautiful wolf-child work for a while before she disappears into the trees again. I love watching how she runs and observes the world. She is so different to my dog. She is free and nothing ties her down. I want to have her spirit. Spending time with her always brightens my day and enriches my soul. She is an incredible lady.

End of an Era

Underneath that there snow lies a truck. That trucks name is Big Blue. She was the first vehicle I ever drove. I was 15 and barefoot. I started off in the parking lot of the Home Hardware in Combermere and when I got onto the main road I almost ran over a chipmunk.

Big Blue is just about as nice as they come...honest. She has been around since I was a little angel faced girly. I have so many wonderful memories of lovely times with Blue. She is just like the family pet. She has been part of my childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. I think she feels so precious to me because I when I began to stake out my independence from my family I feel like Big Blue was there with me, kinda like my partner in crime. She even moved me into my first apartment. Old Blue hasn't run for 2 years but the whole family has been in denial. She is so special to everyone. We have just let her rust away in the driveway at the farm. Sadly, there is only so much rusting away a beautiful truck can do. This week Big Blue got taken away for scrap. I cried when I said my good-byes. It seriously feels like the end of an era. I can't deny that it sort of feels like I have lost an dear old friend. I will always keep the memories I have with Blue close to my heart. Bon Voyage Big Blue

The Forehead Equation

It is hard to believe when you look at this complicated equation that I got 36% in grade 11 math. Allow me to break this puppy down for those of you who didn't have to repeat math 4 times. I have a forehead, my forehead has eyebrows and I have a sister. Years ago my sister compares my eyebrows to Burt Reynolds because I tell her she hasn't got eyebrows (we were young jerks-what can I say?) I develop an eyebrow complex. I get bangs cut and I hide my forehead for 9.5 years. Seriously, I haven't worn my hair off my forehead for 9.5 years because I think that I have Burt Reynolds' F-ing eyebrows!

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo long story short. I was having an epically bad hair day a few days ago and I just swooped my bangs off my face and went about my business. I realised at some point during the day that my forehead hasn't seen daylight for damn near a decade. I also realise that I don't have Burt's eyebrows and now I am happy that I can wear my hair in a new way. Truth be told I am getting kinda sick of looking like a mop-top with just a mouth and nose. I will admit that it does feels a bit scary to show so much skin but i think I am getting used to it.

My Mistress

Okay so I kind of fell in love with cross country skiing this winter. I was ambushed by my friends Greg and Oksana with the fine plan to go for a little ski in the Kolapore on the most frigid day this January. I was excited about the activity but quickly realised -10 minutes into the ski- that I wasn't a nimble as I thought. In fact when we finished our ski I could barely move. I was actually floored at how bad a shape I was in. At the end of our ski I thought "thank God that is over, never again shall I do such a torturous activity" but within a few hours I was craving it. The next day I wasn't even sore! I can't even believe this but I go almost every morning for a ski. I love it. It feels like meditation and fitness and relaxation all rolled into one. It is because of skiing that I don't want winter to be over. I think I have the whole world against me on this. I just am so in love.