First off, a few weather-related quotes, because you know me, I'm all about the words:
"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get." Mark Twain
"A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves." Marcel Proust
"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." John Ruskin
"Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative." Oscar Wilde
Oh dear. It sounds like Oscar would be totally unimpressed with this post, but that's okay.
The screen shot above was taken just after midnight today. I live in Winnipeg, Canada, so it's not surprising to see below zero temperatures and snow in December. (But remember, that's Celsius, not Fahrenheit.)
We deal in extremes in Winnipeg - when you factor in the humidex in summer and the windchill in winter, it's not unusual for us to experience 40 degrees on both the minus and the plus side, along with all of the temperatures in between. (We are a hardy bunch.)
But we make the best of things. Our city is known for its festivals - in summer we celebrate theatre and music and culture, and in winter we build ice sculptures and use our two frozen rivers for skating and sled dog races.
Our province is known as Friendly Manitoba, and I think that's partly to do with the weather. In winter we help strangers dig their cars out of snowbanks, because we know that we might need the same assistance just around the next corner. In spring we emerge from hibernation to meet and greet our neighbours, and in summer we soak up the sun together at nearby lakes and beaches.
And all year round, the weather provides instant conversation starters for when you're killing time in line at the grocery store. Winnipegers are never without a topic of discussion.
So that's what the weather is like where I live. I do have dreams of retiring to the Caribbean, but for now I'm happy right where I am. And right now that looks something like this: