There are no sounds from third-parties, just the noise your boots make when you walk on the snow that fell the night before, now protected by a shield of thin, crunchy ice. It’s brisk outside, not in the negative double digits, but cold enough that you need your mitts and a newly knitted scarf. When you breathe in, the cold air tickling your lungs is fresher than a piece of gum. Even when you’re just experiencing this for a few moments, it feels nice. This is the winter I remember. The kind of winter that involved children making snow forts outside for hours. The kind of winter that was okay for even the after-Christmas-blues.
Toronto has the wind chill, but…that’s it! It’s unfortunate. We have not had the snow to make this winter feel like traditional Canadiana. No crunch when we walk. No snowflake tipped eyelashes.
This is especially hard for me as I’ve always been one of those people who loves the beauty of snow.
Last weekend, I journeyed to Ottawa to visit my extended family. When I was a child, I would spend the summer and winter holidays in Ottawa at my grandmother’s, so I understand the difference between Toronto and Ottawa winters. Ottawa is much colder than Toronto. I’m talking -30 degrees on a regular basis. Ottawa also gets snow – something we’re seriously lacking here in Toronto.
As a child, I remember there always being three feet of snow piled up at the side of the road in Ottawa. My sister and I would spend time shovelling the porch, having snowball fights and building forts. To me, Ottawa winters are definitely the most beautiful.
Behind my aunt’s house in Canada’s capital, there is a park with a frozen pond. The community turned the pond into a community skating rink. In between enjoying the peacefulness of freshly fallen snow and the sun reflecting off the ice, I took photos for this week’s Photo Friday.
Let me show you what winter should look like:
a quarter young 