Winter wonderland

We are ensconced in Canada's prairies for a visit, where it's -15 and snowing. This is, for the record, colder than it ever got in my hometown growing up, so the very idea of it being this cold -- as the HIGH of the day -- is NUTS! I mean, it's down close to -30 at night. For those of you who don't know, this means several things, like cars don't start. Toilet seats -- indoors! -- are cold. Furnaces aren't quite enough heat. The air inside is cold. I have finally realized why people buy wipes warmers. My daughter is quite angry with her diaper changes of late.

But the worst for me is that I wake up each morning here feeling like I've been slowly dried over night. My nose and throat hurt from the lack of humidity and I have to drink all day to feel remotely ok.

The feeling of alienation is compounded by the fact that we're way out in a rural area -- the nearest neighbour is walkable, but cannot be seen. And all around as far as the eye can see? Trees. Snow. It's silent and dark at night. It's now been a dozen years that I've lived in cities of over a million people, and this remoteness is very foreign. They don't even have broadband, people! This post brought to you by the miracle of cell phones and Internet tethering.

It's good to see family. It's good to experience the true Canadian winter. Its good to get away. But I will not in the least be sad to get home to good old rainy Vancouver, where my nose can feel at home.

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