February 11, 2014

I walked to the grocery store today.
As I was paying, I apologized for taking so long in getting my credit card out.  The clerk asked, "Are you walking today?".  I had to laugh.  Only in Whitehorse would they ask such a question to a lady wearing Sorel boots, snow pants, a 3/4 length down filled coat, a scarf covering not only the neck but at that point my chin also, a toque, two pairs of gloves (actually one small pair of gloves and one pair of Team Canada Mitts - yeah, GO CANADA ... and that being one reason it was taking me so long in getting to some form of payment),  a BackPack (the other reason it was taking me so long in getting some form of payment - as I had to take it off my back and search for a wallet) and sunglasses wrapped around my eyes.
"Yes" I replied.
"It's a cold one out there today," he said.
Yes it was a cold one out there today.  And we have almost forgotten what winter was like.  I took the long way home as the sun was brilliantly shining and it was glorious, even though the temperature was -27 C ... until I turned the corner.  The every so slight breeze was stinging my face so I pulled the scarf up to cover my cheeks.  (Yesterday it was -36 with the wind chill and I didn't want frost bite).  Well, the scarf protected my cheeks but my breath shot up out of the top of the scarf and fogged up my sunglasses.  As it was cold, the moisture turned to ice and now I couldn't see.  My choice was to risk frost bite on my cheeks or see where I was going.  So, as I was walking, I took off my big mitts, took off my glasses and checked to see if I could melt the ice to clean them off.  Then I looked down and noticed one mitt was missing.  I looked behind me and saw in the distance a splotch of red on the white snow.  I back-tracked (which was actually nice as the wind was at my back and the sun was in my face) picked up my missing mitt and again headed for home, sunglasses in my hand.
I am now all nice and cozy it my house and blogging.  Ahhhhh, life is good.