And So..... It Begins.

As I sit and type this the world outside my window has fallen into a hush, and slowly all becomes shrouded in a blanket of white. The snow arrived today and with it begins my first Maritime winter.

I was certain that I was prepared for this moment. I bought a warm toque at a summer craft fair, mittens and scarves and winter jackets have been unpacked and cleaned, hung, ready to wear at a moment's notice. I had my snow tires and witner rims installed three weeks ago, just in time for the full-blown sunshine and balmy temperatures of Indian summer. I was ready, I was certain of it. Then the inevitable happened.

Yesteday was a frigid morning and a layer of frost coated my car. I would need the ice-scraper. Where was it? Somehow in all my packing and unpacking this past year, the scraper had gone missing. D'oh... rookie mistake. No matter, nothing that a few swipes with a trusted video store card couldn't fix. I wasn't however, going to make the same mistake again, and I would be prepared for the next incident. Well, that next incident came today. The snow came. I had forgotten in my haste yesterday to stop and pick up a new scraper/snow brush, so today I had to resort to using a hefty piece of junk mail that I had conveniently picked out of my mailbox moments before. Because the wind was steadily blowing the snow in one direction I had only to clean off two side windows. The passenger side, front and rear had all miraculously remained clear. I stopped to get a snowbrush before continuing in to work. I didn't want to look like the silly person from Toronto, who thinks that Maritime snow can be whisked away from one's car with just a quick call to the Army to come marching in to clean it on your behalf.

The snow fell all day, and heavy enough so that as I was at work I was confronted with this shortened version of Twenty Questions.

"Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a car?"
"Yes".
"Do you have a snowbrush?"
"Yes", this time thinking, "Oh great, here come the jokes!."
"Can I borrow it after work?"
"YES!"

Oh it was fantastic!!! I loaned out my brush to anyone who asked. And for those who didn't. "Need a snowbrush? No? Cuz I got one!" I took a certain satisfaction in watching people in the parking lot shoving snow off their car using their arms. There weren't going to be any jokes flying around this evening about people from Toronto and their fear of snow. But it is wrong to gloat, and in the end karma will get you. Pride goeth before a fall. As I took my snowbrush back from the last person to borrow it, my right shoe found a patch of ice and suddenly there I was laying in a pile of chilly slush. So for all my pre-winter preparations, I still ended up cold, and wet, and miserable.

As I sit here dry and warm in flannel pajamas, I can admit that the blanket of white is very pretty and admire it from a distance. Maybe tomorrow I will venture out again to get some photos.