North Wind

Photo of man salting our driveways and sidewalks taken at 7.00 am this morning. Tip: I discovered if you click on the photo you can enlarge it to see it more clearly. Double click on the photo to get the largest size photo.

We are heading into Winter. We haven't had a real snow yet, but the snow flurries are getting heavier.

Eric has been enjoying the mild fall, but I told him that winter comes FAST!

The last few days have been windy. The younger two boys’ school sits on a hill, so it is especially windy when they get out of the car. Interesting!

The temperature dropped 10 degrees over the last few days from mid 30s (approx. +1C) to mid 20s (approx. -3C). It sounds colder in metric. Weather in Florida is averaging mid 80s (30C) and sunny.

The days are getting much shorter in Ontario. It’s getting dark around 5.00. Florida will stay light until 6.00. That hour makes a big difference. There is a trade off for the extra daylight in the winter. In the summer in Florida it is dark by 8.00, whereas Ontario has those long light evenings. It’s taking some time to get used to such shorter days, by the time 7.00 pm rolls around we feel like it is 9.00 or 10.00. We have to check our watch, since we have no sense of time in this new climate.

When Eric and I went for our evening walk last night it was bitter. My scarf, hat, and gloves are too thin (bought them at Target), so I am going out today to find something warmer. We were at the Bay Store yesterday and found some big warm hats. They had fleece lining and red and black polar fleece fabric. They even had ear flaps so you could open them to hear what someone else was saying. We thought they were funny and that we would look like lumberjacks wearing them. They don’t seem funny at all now.

There was a light snow last night. When I looked outside the window at 6:00 am this morning, there was a snow plow putting salt on the road. A short while later some men walked around the neighbourhood putting salt on the driveways and steps. Now, that’s service.

Even though I’m Canadian, it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced winter, so it’s all sort of new and familiar at the same time.

Kids are excited to see snow flurries. We need to go out and get some ice skates for everyone today.