vendredi 6 novembre 2009

Snow is coming



For several days now our meteo has been forecasting light snow over Longueuil.  None has fallen...so far.  While we lived in Val-David, in our beloved Laurentian Hills, the smell of nearing snow was a cause for rejoicing.  It meant a new dressing for our barren trees and the mutation of evergreens into huge tipis when their long branches laden with heavy snow hung low, the lower ones even touching the ground.
It also meant the hum of snow making machines at the nearby Vallée Bleue ski hills and the eventual recall of laid off seasonal workers with the return of the toursists.  It was a merry period and heralded the coming Holydays.
Looking out the window over the kitchen sink (see picture above) we saw nothing but beauty and the birds at the feeder.  Watching the snow fall was so relaxing and at night, when the sky was clear the moon shone making millions of little diamonds glitter...we could even see stars and the occasional Northern Lights.
Now, in Longueuil, it means dirty streets, buses running late and hoping our snow clearing contractor will come and clear the gritty snowbank pushed and compacted in our exit by the city's snow plows clearing the boulevard before we have to go out..   Of course due to light pollution very few stars are visible and the moon looks sick.
But we are nearer the kids and our grandchildren; it helps cushion the blow!

10 commentaires:

  1. Oh, I understand! The last part is my next stage of life: closer to kids and grandkids is a good thing indeed.

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  2. It's a great source of enjoyment for all concerned...and the grand-parents come in handy at times.

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  3. You would think we'd have nailed this public snow removal thing by now. Sheesh.

    Anyway, don't remind me. These last few years have been rough with the amount of snow we've had. The 1980s had many snowfalls, then it dipped in the 1990s and started again in the 2000s - if memory remains loyal to me.

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  4. Winter 2007-2008 was tough and our snow remover asked, in January, for an extra 40$ because the gaz prices had gone through the roof. Winter 2008-2009 was rather light snowise...but we did not get a rebate. On the other hand he did not raise his prices for 2009-2010.

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  5. Oh, snow, so beautiful and romantic! We have snow in Rome seldom and when it comes down it breaks the umbrella-like pine tree branches typical from here. When I was little snow destroyed one huge pine treem just in front of our house. I hated that.

    Sorry you had to leave your Larentian Hills. I imagine it was for a reason. Now you're closer to children and granchildren though, one of the greatest joys. I'm instead in a phase of my life where, due to this darn recession, my eldest daughter cannot find a good job (she is only an under-paid intern) and she hates being obliged to stay with us - the younger one is instead still studying. There's some tension at home for that, but it will pass. She a good girl.

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  6. Yes, we moved to Longueuil to help our son buy a house, then his twin sisters, 3 years ago came back to the Montreal area from Mississauga, near Toronto, where they had been working for 10 years.
    They then bought their brother's house and now we share the house with our daughters, part of the house having been converted to house us. It has become an intergenerational house as they call these arrangements.
    Everybody finds some benefit with the set up and we live happily...ever after is still to be seen.
    My son rented an appartment near the Univesrsity where he is an Associate professor and his wife is also very happy since she hated Longueuil.

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  7. Hi
    I was looking at comments on Rosaria's last post concerning her Sunday Roast which appears on my blog.
    Unfortunately the incorrect URL shows on the post.
    It should be

    http://eddybluelights.blogspot.com/
    which should find my blog
    Clouds And Silvery Linings

    Best wishes
    Eddie

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  8. Ah, those foreigners from warmer climates and their romantic view of snow! It's not so romantic at 7am when 20 cm have fallen and you have to go to work. To say nothing of the toll it exacts on our cars!

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  9. Indeed Commentator, in a city when you have to commute to work it is NOT romantic AT ALL

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