The weather outside is frightful...

I'm sitting here in front of my laptop, enjoying a cup of Twinings tea brought to me courtesy of the Colin & Halyna Forbes British Export company (we so love and miss you guys), while it's -30c outside. The temperature in our living room is not quite where it should be; right now it's 18c and the furnace is running like mad to bring it up to a comfortable 21c. It was worse this morning, with a living room temperature of 16c and the back yard at -35c, and that was without the wind. What I'm trying to say here is that in the words of my dear niece Karlene, "Global Warming is a lie!" The king of Siam from that Gilbert & Sullivan production would have added that it was a false lie. Well, ok; while I'm sure there are polar bear drowning in the arctic right this very moment (sad as it is) if they came to Edmonton they would find it much more hospitable than the North Pole. We actually were colder here than at the North Pole one day this week, and while Santa & his elves were donning life vests we here were hunkering down in the cold. This was exactly what Angel & I did today.

I actually don't mind being weather bound indoors, at least for short periods of time. It feels cozy inside, and you get to do stuff you normally don't have time for because you're so busy with running errands or whatever. We slept in, had a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs & toast (I wanted pancakes but Angel vetoed that idea) and then played with our new Wii that we bought on New Year's Day. We had some money saved and had talked about getting one, as Angel enjoys playing the Wii with our niece Kaylista at her dad's house. I just loved the idea of playing video games with Angel, as she wasn't keen on them to begin with. We bowled and played baseball, brought to us by this marvelous little white box wired to our TV, and then Angel played a few rounds of golf. It was marvelous to me to say the least, as I so wanted to have fun with Angel in such a juvenile fashion...

Alas, our indoor bliss came to an end in mid afternoon as we had to venture out and stock up on supplies before whatever storm hits us next. We had planned on doing this for tomorrow, but with church, a trip to the pool for some much needed hot-tubbing, Angel's lab appointment and home group in the evening we felt that we were cramming too much into a day that is forecast for -14c. So we let the car run for a bit, hit Costco and made it home in record time. Why it was such a big deal to go out today may sound strange considering all the running around we did in the last few days. It was freezing when we did New Year's supper and fireworks with friends in the early evening, and it was even colder when we rang in the New Year at our Pastor's acreage (it's been a tradition where the whole church is invited for an evening of broomball on the pond, followed by food, games and the countdown to midnight) It was just as cold the next day when we went to my brother's place to celebrate New Year's Day. This is another tradition, where every January 1st the family gathers together, along with all our in-laws, for more food, games, tobogganing and good fellowship. I guess we just about ran out of patience with Mother Nature today, that's all.

So, as we settle in for the evening we have nothing planned, other than a movie in the toasty warm basement. Wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot drinks and not budging one inch out of the house, life doesn't get much better. Sure, the weather outside is frightful, but the basement is so delightful. And it could be worse. Our friends Nathan & Dawn, who are doing missions work in Lithuania, have to put up with winter living in an ocean port city. The humidity makes it feel colder, plus everyone is at the mercy of the city which provides the heat for every home and building. I mention them because it's their futon (which they sold to us before leaving Canada) that we're curled up on. But I'm sure that they have warm hearts as we do when we think of each other. We love and miss them too. It's friends both far and near that make life just a little more bearable when things are otherwise miserable. No, today was a happy day for Hendrick - and all because of the lousy weather.

(If you'd like to see the pictures of our New Year's revelries, click here)