Well so far I have to say, -20 is fine though I thought this would be my death threshhold :D
Snow is beautiful, I love it, it's pretty and white and clean and crisp, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. One aspect of a real winter that I have been dreading all year however, is ice. I have horrid memories of London, stepping out the front door onto an ice covered path and slip sliding your way to work. Well, the dread is no more. The ice is upon ice. Yesterday afternoon we had what they call freezing rain, but I believe most people call it sleet. It covered everything with a sheet of ice about 1 cm thick, and then to top it off, it rain real rain just to make it all shiny and slippery as hell. To say I was stressed is an understatement. I have this irrational fear of falling (yes, that is why I put off trying a bicycle for so long) so feeling like I have no control over my feet is very terrifying to me. I got out of the metro and took 4 steps in the direction of home and almost fell twice. I panicked. I didn' t know what to do. I had visions of myself living at the metro forever because I couldn't get home. I went back into the metro and called Remi to come and get me and by then I was so wound up I actually had to shed a few tears to release the stress. My poor darling had to leave the warm comfort of home to slide his way up the road and slide me back home. It was horrid.
And this morning, even though it had snowed a little overnight, it wasn't enough to cover the ice, so I had to go through the same thing again but this time by myself. I made it! I did it!
I felt like a hero, on top of the world. Then I came back down to earth and realised I'd have to do it again at the other end. Heh.
Anyway, the day is over and I am home and I am fine. I have no idea where the fear comes from. I wonder if it's something I have developed due to the pain in my joints or if it is something I have always had. I know I have always been terrified of climbing ... well, except trees but that's another story.
Though we had a warmer day today... temp with wind chill was a very mild -7... I am now unable to do without my mittens if there is any slight wind. I realised this tonight when waiting for the bus and almost gave myself frostbite because I couldn't be bothered to get my mittens out of my bag before leaving work. Lazy!
Aside from that, everything is fine. My baby is so lovely and I love him so much. Today he came home from work and cleaned up the whole apartment to surprise me when I came home.
His mother arrives on Saturday so it will be nice to have some family here for Christmas. She told me today the first thing she wants to do when she arrives is go shopping for a coat.
Wise move! :) And bonbons, before you make any comments. I know a girl here from Sask and she said she never used to really feel the cold there but that here she can't tolerate it, it's brutal. So, come in the winter! Let's see if you agree! We'll be waiting for you in January hehehe

Ninite all :) Gotta go try to get to level 15 on World of Warcraft.

On the 1st of December we had our first real snowfall, the first real snowfall I have ever witnessed. The small wet sloppy flakes of morning slowly turned into big fluffy marshmallows, generously coating the ground with crunch before eventually turning to rain. Today was the second snowfall and it has been a steady rain of light fluffy frozen powder all day, windswept in the morning so that the ground now looks covered in sifted flour. It's beautiful. I was kicking my feet in it all the way home and turning my face up for the tiny stings of ice on skin. I will shortly start wearing my winter coat and boots since today was the coldest day we have had so far, at -15 with windchill. Very bearable, surprisingly, but I should probably start wearing gloves any day now.
Remi's mother will be arriving from France next week and I am looking forward to meeting her. This weekend we should probably get a Christmas tree organised as Angus McSnowheart, our lovely little snowman, tells me he is verging on Seasonally Affected Disorder (SAD) mostly because he sits in the loungeroom all by himself all day.
In other news, I have started a permanent position and am really really enjoying it. The people are really friendly and very professional and the work is very enjoyable. I have been there 3 weeks now, the first 2 weeks on a temporary basis and they went on to offer me a permanent spot even though my work visa expires at the end of May. We are hoping that my application for Permanent Residency in Quebec will be granted, in which case Remi and I plan on staying here a good couple of years. Financially it is not feasible for us right now to move countries and since we are both enjoying our jobs and are successfully setting up our lives here we figure why not stay until we are ready to move again.
I had mentioned in previous comments that I will be looking at reworking this site and my photo albums. That is still on the cards as one of my winter projects, so hopefully it will be done. I am also still going forward with my Spanish lessons (I would prefer Italian but in this hemisphere it seems Spanish is even more useful than Japanese is in the Southern hemisphere), Remi is teaching me an online role-playing game called World of Warcraft (I'm not very good but he says I will improve) and I am also trying to improve my crocheting skills. SO... those are my projects at the moment.

Until next time!

xxx