Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Cold as Canada

This song came up on my YouTube feed from someone I subscribe to.  It fit with my mood perfectly as I have been very lethargic because of the cold temperatures.


It is by the Australian folksinger Paul Kelly, whom I wasn't familiar with, but can certainly appreciate, so I am grateful to be introduced to him. The video (I had originally posted included many iconic images of Canadian winter to fit with the title "Cold as Canada". It was made by a vidder called paganmaestro with quite a wide collection of great music and photographs that have been shared through YouTube.)  Unfortunately that channel has been discontinued - so I had to find a replacement video.

Canadians who are lucky enough to afford winter vacations love to travel to warmer destinations to escape the cold.  This blog post by Australian author Pru Batten made me very envious as it sounds like paradise! It is summer where she is in Tasmania. She describes a day at the beach near her home.  I can almost feel the sun and water on my skin as I read it.  Aaaahhh!


This is so not what I was picturing.
by Sebastien Lefebvre on 05 Oct 2012 in Ottawa
Runner up in Stormy Scenes from Canadian Geographic
magazine's Whatever the Weather photo contest

Yep. We are knee-deep in winter here in Canada and although Canadians pride ourselves in our ability to withstand and even thrive in cold temperatures, it doesn't mean we don't enjoy whining about it occasionally. For instance, last month was comparatively warm around here, so of course the cold had to start sooner or later.  I think we're getting spoiled actually. Environment Canada has reported that in the last 65 years temperatures in Canada have warmed over 3 degrees!  That may not sound like much to you, but it is a pretty big deal.  So when the temperatures start to dip to 30 below zero celsius (which is pretty normal for January in my part of Canada) we don't seem quite as able to adapt because the week before it was barely minus 10!  The variation in temperature is pretty crazy lately.  In the past decade I have seen pouring rain in February, and then a few years later in January even!  Believe me, that was unheard of here when I was a child.

All I want to do is stay warm.  My automatic car starter isn't working now for some reason.  Maybe it has something to do with when I bashed into a snowbank on a slippery corner on the way to work last week.  At least I avoided hitting the school bus!  You might think a snowbank would be full of soft, fluffy snow.  Oh no!  Not here!  The crunch sounded more like hitting a brick wall.  I damaged the front right corner of my Honda van, curiously in the same area as my husband bashed the truck the previous week.  Did I mention the roads were slippery?  Let's see, above normal winter temperatures followed by a huge dump of snow for two solid days, so that the town could barely keep up with snow removal on the roads. (Luckily for me it was on the weekend); followed immediately by bone chilling temperatures!  That is what's been going on for the past two weeks here.

I am going into hibernation mode.  But before I do, I am going to try and thaw myself out by gazing on some cozy photos of my favourite actor, (you know who).



You'd better bundle up a bit more than that Richard!






That's better!  But is that coat warm enough?  Nice watch!
(Speaking of watches - The Armitage Watch Movie Club is at it again.  Check out this blog for the times to tune into Robin Hood Fridays and Spooks Saturdays)






This coat looks quite cozy, but not good enough for a Canadian winter!






Now this guy knows how to dress for the cold!




screencap by Linda van Pelt

But this is the scene that really warms my heart!

14 comments:

Gratiana Lovelace said...

Richard Armitage certainly warms my heart. Ha!

I feel for you about the cold. I lived in Duluth, MN for two years. Bone chilling cold up there.

And Monday night, our furnace capacitor failed--on a -5 degrees Fahrenheit night. We got it repaired Tuesday morning, but it was mighty cold. Ha!

So keep warm and keep looking at Mr. Smoulder. Cheers! ;->

Phylly3 said...

Thanks Grati! This week has been brutal, but it's supposed to warm up for the weekend, possibly to a single digit (still below zero) but that would be absolutely balmy!

JaneGS said...

I just love your taste in music--you posted Changes by Gordon Lightfoot over a year ago and it became one of my favorite songs.

Phylly3 said...

Aww! That's so nice of you to say so Jane! Changes is definitely one of my favourite Lightfoot songs (even though it was actually written by Phil Ochs. What a perfect Canada/U.S. collaboration!

Anonymous said...

Hi Phylly,
I can not even imagine these temperatures, since I live in Brazil!
I just think it's very cool and beautiful! Please stay warm and safe on the roads!
Ana Cris

Phylly3 said...

Thanks for worrying about me Ana Cris! I will try to be more careful!

Anonymous said...

Great post on a "chilling" subject! I love this country but man o man...it's cold!
planning on curling up with a blankie and maybe Harry Kennedy on the dvd player....that should do the trick!
tyme4t

Phylly3 said...

@tyme4t - That sounds delightful! Curling up on the sofa with a blanket is what I seem to do best lately. My husband noticed me there recently and said, "There she is, in her usual habitat!"

Anonymous said...

I'm emigrating. Should i emigrate to NZ? :D They night take me. Refugee from the arctic...?
fitzg


fitzg

Phylly3 said...

@fitzg - Let's see, Tasmania sounded wonderful - except for the fires! There's no escape for me this winter I'm afraid. I'm here till the bitter end of it all... usually sometime in late March or early April!

obscura said...

Yike - this is precisely why I had to strike Canada from my list of potential English speaking nations for emigration last fall...Wisconsin is bad enough, but we reached 20F today at least!

Phylly3 said...

@obscura - Well, to be fair, not ALL of Canada has the same temperatures. I am pretty much in the center of the country where we get more extreme temperatures. The west coast is much milder and southern Ontario dips further south than parts of the northern U.S. -- so Wisconsin's temperatures would be very similar to that.

Collar City Brownstone said...

It has been extremely cold here in Upstate New York too. It went down to single digits last week and with the wind chill factor it felt more like below zero. I was laid off from my job last month so I am thankful that I don't have to go out in those freezing temperatures so early in the morning. My furnace is working overtime though to keep my house warm.

Collar City Brownstone said...

Oh, I love Thorin's coat!!! Richard is so very handsome and sexy as Thorin too.