I can haz summer now?

It’s snowing again. Seriously, what’s going on? This is the west coast!

I need another cup of tea — not to drink, really, just to hold onto long enough to warm my hands so I can type.

The entertainment value of a thick fog

We’ve been fogged-in here for a week. And there’s so much moisture in the fog that we have ice and frost galore! When I went out to go to work the other day, my trusty mini-van was frozen shut. Fortunately, I managed to get the back hatch open and climb through that way (a very entertaining sight for the neighbours, I’m sure). Then I had to scrape the windows – inside and out – and blast the defogger for ages before I could drive. Of course, the fog and cold weather didn’t go anywhere, so after working my 12-hour shift, I had to repeat the whole process (yes, climbing in through the back, too) before I could drive home. I know, poor me. Sniffle, sniffle, whine.

It’s actually quite beautiful weather. Cold and a little eery, what with not being able to see more than ten feet or so ahead of you, and hearing the fog horn wail all day and night. Now that I have a couple days off, though, I’m hoping the fog will lift and I’ll get to see the sun! Meanwhile, I’m off to test the grippiness (interesting word, that) of my running shoes as I attempt to run on the frosty roads. This morning I carried the garbage bin out to the curb and had only to stand still at the top of my driveway and slide down to the bottom. Fun way to start the day. My next-door neighbours, who didn’t have the pleasure of witnessing my ungraceful entry into my van the other day, found my take the garbage out without moving my feet demonstration quite entertaining.

Anyway, my run. Yes. Off I go — wish me luck!

[ETA: I'm back, and I didn't sprain an ankle or fall on my butt, so it was a good run.]

Friday Five: Avalanches R Us

1. THIS is why BC shouldn’t get so much snow…. We’re lucky here on the east coast of Vancouver Island. So far, we seem to be having a controlled melt, so no flooding. Whew. No avalanches, either, despite this news today: The Canadian Avalanche Bulletin for the coming days rated nearly all areas of the province as either high or considerable risk. Yikes. I’ll be staying home, thanks.
2. Now that the roads are mostly clear here, I finally got out for a run with my new iPod Shuffle. And it made me wonder why I waited so long to get one! Running with tunes is very fun. Usually I’m happy to just zone out and let my mind wander where it may, but music was a nice change. Besides, it’s probably not a good thing for me to spend too much time inside my own head, given the presence there of an eclectic collection of imaginary characters.
3. Ever wonder what kind of font you would be if you were a font? Of course you do. I’m helvetica, apparently. Classic, reliable, and a bit boring. Hmmm…. May have to do something about that boring part. (Take the What Font Are You? quiz here.)
4. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the internet? I love that I can find out any thing, any time. And lately I’ve been spending a lot of time doing “research” (ahem) and – here’s the great part – calling it “work”. Yup. Surfing the web, following tangents that my new characters would follow so when I actually write those characters’ story, I’ll know what they know.
5. As I type this, I’m listening to an obscure band that one of my main characters is obsessed with. (But no, I’m not telling yet what band it is, and may never tell.)  And now with that fairly lame excuse for a fifth item in my Friday Five, it’s time for more chai tea and some actual writing. Seriously. No more surfing. I’m going off-line. Any minute now….

Peace.

Blog tweaks, and beach-going as an extreme sport

Okay, it took far longer than it should’ve, but I now have a new blog banner (you like?) and an RSS button for anyone who’d like to subscribe. Whew! Now I guess I should get some real work done, such as, ahem, revisions. Oh, and laundry. But I’ve just started a terrific book, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, so I’ll probably just put my feet up and read. It’s too late to start work on something now, isn’t it?

While I was messing with that little starfish up there, I realized I haven’t been to the beach in a couple weeks. Sure, the sidewalks are slicker than the hockey rink after a fresh zamboni run, meaning that venturing out of the house to walk a couple blocks to the beach ranks right up there with BASE jumping and shark diving in terms of risk to life and limb, but still…. I’m in ocean withdrawal. Must get some beach time this weekend. Beach time makes me happy.

A Saturday plan just dropped into my brain: sleep in, bake muffins, drink tea and eat said muffins whilst (who says “whilst”?) reading Sherman Alexie’s book, then painstakingly inch my way down to the beach — it’s worth the risk — then, assuming I’ve made it home with life and all limbs intact, get to those revisions. And maybe the laundry. Maybe.

Contentment

Fresh snow.
Blue sky.
Chai tea.
Revisions.

… I’m having a lovely day. 

To run, or not to run

I love running when the weather’s cold and clear. Back when I lived in Alberta, I would run early in the morning, hitting the snow-packed road regularly, right down to -20 (colder than -20, I preferred snuggling up with a quilt and a cup of tea). Beautiful, peaceful, invigorating…. Sometimes I’d see the Northern Lights, which was the absolute best reward for hauling myself out of bed when most the rest of the city was still sleeping.

So this morning the weather looks perfect. I lace up my runners, remember to grab my mitts, and head out into the gloriously crisp air. Then I do one of those full-body jerk-and-flail things to keep from landing on my butt. Okay, there’s ice out there. I go easy. Nice and slow. Then I almost lose it again. I get that high-school urge to glance around to see if anyone has seen my ice dance. Whew, no witnesses. But then I decide to walk instead of run, which is not as fun, but definitely safer.

I guess sometimes I still think I’m back in that dry prairie cold. Except for ice-storms (yikes), I didn’t worry about wiping out. But here, the coastal cold is WET, which means ICE. I need to get myself a pair of these babies:

The good thing about coastal cold is that, unlike prairie cold, it doesn’t last for, say, eight months of the year. Nope. A week here and there in the late fall and winter, and we’ll be in the clear again. Which means I probably can’t justify buying those ice-jogging things. Maybe I’ll stay inside these next few days… curl up with my blankie, drink tea, and catch up on some reading. A good book is a pretty great reward for hauling myself out of bed, too. And no flailing involved.

It’s called a shovel, people!

I walk my eight-year-old son the few blocks to his school each morning. Along our route, there are a total of three — yes, THREE — homes whose occupants cleared their sidewalks. The rest of the sidewalks remain a treacherous mess. We had about two feet of snow in the last week or so, and now the more-typical-for-here rain has started. It has reduced the two feet of snow to about six inches of hard-packed uneven ice/snow covered with six inches of slippery slush. My son and I have tried to make a game of it (who can get to school with the fewest sprained limbs?) (no, actually it was Arctic Explorer to him, and the sprained limb game to me), but it’s just getting bloody annoying. Not a pleasant way to start your day, you know? We’ve resorted to walking on the side of the road — which is actually more like the middle of the road, thanks to the piles left by the snowplows — but with the busy before-school traffic, this isn’t a great option. You shouldn’t have to risk life (or limb) to get to school. So, yeah, it’s called a shovel, people….

By the way, to those three home-owners who did shovel, you are angels. Cream of the crop. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

::stops ranting, takes deep breath, returns to laid-back status::