A Slice.......

There Are Three Things in Life I am Certain of.............

1. Death

2. Taxes

3. There will be a discussion at my dinner table involving the Vancouver Canucks.

Is That a Button Nose? And a Corn Cob Pipe?

I have a confession to make: I am loving this winter. LOVING it. Okay, before you start lobbying frozen ice balls towards me, let me qualify that statement: commuting in it sucks. I get that completely. No arguments here. But I gotta' say I love almost everything else about the snow.

I find it memorizing watching the flakes fall through the air. Sometimes they float - lazily and gently - small white ballerinas delicately performing their dance with grace and finesse. Other times they rush in a tempest of white fury hurtling toward the ground with reckless abandon. Best of all is watching this white frosty confetti at night under a street lamp, the light creating a halo for this lacy cascade. I could watch snow fall for hours. It offers me the same sense of wonder that watching waves pound against the beach does for me. A mesmerizing almost spiritual experience.

Even the air smells different when it is snowing. A scent of frosty softness --- new and unspoiled.

Things sound different as well; the snow provides an inherent cushion ---- muffling some sounds and amplifying others. The weight of the air carries with it a certain stillness --- the weight of limbs slicing through the cold air as it cries down snowy tears.

My street has been transformed into a Christmas card. Trees laden with snow, rooftops covered in a thick layer of creamy icing, the ground high with white drifts. Incredibly beautiful. Snow banks impossible to see over. Icicles adorning the lamp post. Snowman dotting the yards, their whimsical shapes providing smiles for the neighborhood.

I secretly am pleased when the forecast calls for 10, 20, 30+ centimetres of snow. I consider it a gift upon awakening and seeing that the ground has been coated with deeper and deeper snow. I am delighted when it falls and keeps on falling.
I feel genuine disappointment when the snowfall begins to abate and then stops completely. And worse, when the temperatures rise, and the thawing begins.

I even don't mind shovelling snow. I admit it can get tiresome but I suppose most things have their ying and yang.
Perhaps I would feel different if I lived somewhere else ........ like the Prairies, or up North, or wherever they experience 4+months of snowy winters and it becomes more of a nuisance to endure than a wonder to behold.
But I'm a West Coast girl where the snow is an exclamation point in our winters and one which I thoroughly enjoy.

Question of the Day.............

............ Why do elevators even NEED music?

The elevators in even some of the world's tallest buildings, the Taipie 101 in Taiwan or the Sears Tower in Chicago for example, can reach the top in a minute or less. It is within the realm of possibility that most people can amuse themselves for a minute or two without having music piped in to entertain them. Plus nowadays with MP3 players, iPods, the random singing crazy guy, gossipy office receptionists, the flirting couple in corner, etc, enough entertainment can be found to keep us from being bored for a few moments.
.............. and second question of the day......
Have you ever actually HEARD music in an elevator?

Think about it. I don't think I ever have although once I heard piped in advertising for local businesses. And once there was a trio of teenagers singing some boy band song. And of course there are always those who like to whistle..........but piped in music? Not that I can recall. Of course I am usually too busy planning my escape route in case in abruptly stops.......

A SLICE

What's the first you do when you arrive at your parent's house? After the initial hugs and greeting? You open their fridge and take a long look inside. I'm right about this aren't I? Its like an universal activity: I'm back on the mother planet and I need to check on their valuable life sustaining resources.

Age is not a factor: many of my 50+ friends tell me that as soon as they have said hello to their parents they make a bee-line for the fridge sometimes even stepping on Bowser or Fluffy in the process.

And the same friends tell me that when their 20-something children come home they too head for the fridge like it is a beacon worthy of rapt attention. And then for some, they don't stop there but continue on to check out the contents of the pantry.

Families. I think the universal sign to indicate a family should not be the outlines of two adults and two children but a large well stocked refrigerator with a family gathered around looking inside.