Fall is finally here.

The cool weather that is only going to get cooler.

No longer do I feel the warmth and that the nice t-shirt weather is indestructible. The cold always wins in Canada. And for me too it seems like a losing battle.

I joke around that being born and raised in India, I have tropical bones…

Bones that like some nice heat.

Bones that don’t want to live in a body that is feeling cold. For months on end.

But living in Canada is the name of the game called Let’s Love Winter. Because winter is the default.

Or so it seems. Because no sooner are we getting into relishing the warm weather, the cold breeze is just around the corner to remind us of what is inevitable sooner rather than later.

And that coolness is here to stay for the next lots of months. Sigh.

Ok, enough complaining right? I will try to think of what I do like about winter.

I love that we have four distinct seasons

It not only keeps life interesting, but to see the drastic changes from one weather to the next seems like a weather magic show- the new growth in spring that quickly transforms the seemingly dead landscape teeming with green and life, the wild growth and energy of the summer, the stunning fall colours, and then the beautiful snow magic show and the quiet of the winter…all in twelve months, one after the other like clockwork. What is there not to be fascinated and feel wonder at.

Oh, I do love a nice park walk in the snow…

The peace, the slant of gentle sunlight, the glow of the snow- there is nothing as magical as that. I would hate to give up on a good fluffy snow, and the joy of discovering footprints of the myriad wildlife going about life in that snow. Just don’t make me drive in it, or shovel it…

Even the shoveling…

For the sake of getting outside and working with one’s body and making small talk with all the neighbours who are doing the same feels like an event. The sweat and sore muscles are a testament to the physical labour that seem to be disappearing from our lives…we are still animal bodies, but we pretend we are not by outsourcing our most basic movements to technology.

I love having fewer plans and lots of home time in the winter…

The coziness of hibernating is delightful and relaxing. There is actually time on weekends to catch a nap, or play a longer board game with the family. The craziness of plans and running around places settles down to a gentle hum of living life in the quietude of winter.

There is beauty in the winter, and I look forward to it.

I have good warm parka to keep me cozy. And there is always the holiday season and a break from normal life to look forward to. 

With that spirit of positivity, I hope to not detest the winter to come, because come it will. 

In the meantime, we have a perfectly nice fall on our hands…let me go get a good dose of fall colours before nature’s show is over…