Six Days ’til Christmas: Where’s the Snow?

December 19th, 2009; six days until Christmas and very little snow in the “great white north,” where Americans could be seen arriving in August to go winter skiing!  As the years have passed, times and seasons and everything else has changed; slowly, but perceptively and surely – like the world turning upside down.  We here in Canada have lovingly (I’m sure) been referred to as the “snowbirds,” by the Americans.  I think we own a good portion of the State of Floriday, where we would “fly away south,” for the winter months – departing the great white north in November and returning in March or April.

I recall visiting my “snowbird” parents at their place in Florida. Yes, we succumbed to the rest of my country and upon retirement one of the things my parents did was invest in their “winter get-a-way”; they bought a place in Florida and joined the migrating retirees every winter.  As I walked through their community one evening, gazing around at the gentle faces of my Canadian brothers and sisters; aging not so gracefully trying to suck up as much sun as possible, as quickly as possible, so as not to stand out and be so “obviously tourists,” I thought the evenings were rather chilly.  As though to confirm my thoughts, a sweet little old lady strolled by with her “beau”; wrapped in a mink stole to keep her warm in the chilling evening air.

As the years passed and I would occasionally visit, I did notice a perceptible change in the temperature; at times I thought it was warmer here in Canada than in Florida when visiting in March.  “Our world is changing; things are turning upside down.  Soon they’ll (people from Florida) will be going north for the winter to get some sun and be in a warm place.”  That hasn’t happened; but, I don’t write it off as a possibility.

Look at the headline news.  The eastern coast of the USA is in the middle of a storm that has caused the death of five people so far.  As for me, here in Toronto, in the great white north; well, it’s cool, but there’s no snow, and as I glanced down from my penthouse apartment, the golf course across the highway is still very green, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d seen golfers out there.  There weren’t any, but there were two weeks ago!  It’s cool, but it is nowhere like my childhood, teen, young adult and married life years; nowhere at all.

The times they are a chaning; the seasons – well, there was one year the birds were so confused by the warmth, they forgot to go south.  As for my parents, they sold their place a couple of years before my mother passed; health care was just took expensive, despite the fact they had excellent Canadian coverage through the Canadian military.

Oh well, if you Americans ever need a warm place for the winter….drop on up to Toronto, or anywhere in Canada.  It seems you’ve been designated the new snowbelt of America.  Our beaches, though, don’t compare.  We’ve plenty of lakes, but most of our waters are too polluted; I don’t recommend any swimming.  The ocean is the ocean – east or west coast; same here as in the USA.

Well, six more days; wouldn’t mind some white stuff for the holidays.  Just doesn’t seem like Christmas without the white stuff.