Hibernation

Its been a while since i last blogged. Excuses abound, renovation, work, baby, are key words which take up vast amounts of time. Other moments amount to just wanting to rest, or doing some type of leisurely task. This last weekend though, gave us a white cold offering which has provided the gift of time. It started Saturday night. Forecast called for snow to arrive Sunday, which, on the Island, means that we will get a shot of wet snow that quickly turns to rain except in higher elevated areas. We do get a few cold snaps but they seem to come in January or February. Saturday evening we saw the usual wet snow begin to fall, nothing of substance. Sunday morning, Sam and I went for a walk in the early morning. No snow, just rain and wind, but the temperature was definitely dropping. Sunday morning around 8 A.M., which signals the beginning of Football festivities with the ESPN pregame primetime show hosted by Chris Bermann (aka Fred Flinstone), rain turned to fat snow flakes. I thought, "sweet - could be a whole day of football watching". This would mean not going to Church, which i don't mind because of the crazy evening taking Sam to the emergency (see previous post for details) and the temptation watching action on the gridiron poses. I mentioned to Heath that the snow was beginning to fall and that the roads might be getting a little dicy around the church viscinity. Heather mentioned the notion that i was saying this in order to skip Church to watch football. I denied this - feeling a tinge of guilt for my selfish leanings. Heath suggested to phone the Church to see what the roads were like. I phoned and Pastor Gary answered. I asked him about the roads. He said they seemed fine. But he then added that if we decided not to come to Church, make sure to what some type of religious programming to make up for our absence. He said, only to watch football after a good fill of televangelism. I told him that we'll make it. I thought after to let him know that i could pull out a great amount of theology from a good football tilt. Especially in the area of patience and suffering because of my leanings to follow the Seahawks. Gary would understand because he follows the Chiefs.
The drive to Church was winter madness. Everyone was driving 30 and the wipers could not keep the snow off the windshield. Reminders of past journeys up mountain passes to go skiing resounded. Memory of a time driving up mid-week to go skiing when my brother (Mike) had to put on his ski goggles and have the window rolled down to get a better look at the road. Actually there was no view of the road going down the Trans-Canada towards Banff. The only guide were the red lights on the back of a Semi-truck which we followed. It worked out fine till we realized the trucker had pulled off the highway onto an other road - which led us off the highway. We had to throw out a quick heartfelt prayer before making a partially blind turn back onto the highway,- leading us on towards a day of powder bliss.
The drive back from church was just as crazy. Everyone driving slow - which suited me fine. When reaching closer to home, we noticed that trees had fallen from the weight of the snow. I tried to keep the car away from heavily tree'd areas. When driving through tree-lined streets, it felt like a game of Russian roulette. We made it out fine - and we have had a relaxing time at home. I have not been able to work this week because the roofs are all snow-covered. There is not too much we can do except relax. It feels like an early Christmas vacation. Heath and I been able to hang out a lot with Sammy, we've watched some movies, and i started a good book,- a biography on John Belushi. So its been nice to holed up for a bit. Its Thursday now and things are starting to thaw out. Probably by Monday things will be back to normal. There is a bit of seasonal confusion because it feels like a bit of spring feel because of the melting snow and warmer temperatures. For the last few days the outside streets have had winter Winnipeg look,- so to see it all melt feels like were in April (is Christas over?). But we are in late, late November and a busy December is upon us. Make me realize that even with hectic pace we probably all experience,- it is still nice to reflect on the silence of falling snow on a late November night.